Day: May 31, 2021

Week in Review – May 31, 2021

“From Napa to Bend and back”

Monday was spent cleaning up after the party and relaxing before the Napa “Spectacular” adventure – one of Diana’s gifts to Alicia.

We loaded up the car and made the relatively short drive to Napa on Tuesday afternoon.  The Italian style villa that Diana had rented turned out to be perfect for us – lovely pool, great location, and a perfect situation for Clorinda (who we coaxed into joining us the night before.)  Here are the beautiful pool, and Diana and Alicia opening gifts in the covered patio beside it.

 

 

 

That particular gift was personalized sippy cups for exploring Napa.  We asked Clorinda what hers said – “Nappy Valley Me.”  Classic.

Dinner was pizza by the pool, followed by a girls dance party in the hot tub.

Wednesday started with a picnic at V. Sattui winery.  We got there early and had our choice of tables on which to enjoy all the yummy offerings from their excellent deli.

We spent a happy couple of hours enjoying the setting, wine, and food.

I forgot to mention the great view that I got of a hot air balloon on Wednesday morning.  I was sitting outside with Clorinda and she told me she thought that would be a “great adventure.”  Not my idea of fun at all.

Then it was back to the house to relax before dinner.  Angele, by the river in downtown Napa, was our dinner destination.  Excellent French food in a very relaxed and comfortable setting.  We had the best escargot we have tasted – not chewy or tough in the slightest.  I loved my branzino, and everyone else enjoyed their meals also – Clorinda finishing all of her veal sweetbreads.  And we finished up with the sea salt caramel pot du crème – just as good as Diana remembered it when she and Janice enjoyed it several years ago.

Thursday (Alicia’s official birthday) started early with wine tasting at Domaine Chandon winery – famous for their sparkling wines.  All the tastings are by reservation only, and have very limited outdoor capacity.  This meant the only spot we could get was at 10:15am.  Clorinda was aghast that we would go so early – she was left home to rest and get over it.  I really liked the outdoor, smaller group tastings much more than the pre-COVID scene.  Here are some pictures from the gorgeous winery setting:

Alicia was a good sport, wearing the “Finally 21” sash and crown when her Mom asked.  I was very impressed with the wines and overall experience at Domaine Chandon.

We went back to the house for lunch and a check in with Clorinda – she was outside enjoying the gorgeous weather and her latest book.  The afternoon tasting destination was Whitehall Lane – a favourite of ours from years ago, when we enjoyed a private dinner with Randy and Janice, and Diana joined their wine club.  Their Sauvignon Blanc is a delicious summer wine.  This was a much more casual and informal experience than Domaine Chandon, and the wines were all excellent.

Back to the house again to collect Clorinda and change for a very fancy dinner.  I chauffeured back up the valley to the Auberge du Soleil resort and restaurant.  You have to make reservations for this place months in advance and the menu is a treat.  Adamo and Marco decided to join us at the last minute and we were very fortunate to retain a space on the terrace, where we could enjoy the wonderful view down the Napa valley.

If you zoom in on this you can see the wonderful selections on the menu.  I started with the scallop, then an amazing risotto, and finally a beautifully sous vide cooked duck.

Here Alicia is quite pleased with the earrings from Diana.

And finally a picture with Uncle Marco, who made a 3 hour drive in very heavy traffic to join us:

After the late night on Thursday, it was a bit of a production to get all packed up and out of the villa by 10am – but we made it.

Donna had arranged one final tasting for us – at the very fancy Domaine Carneros where she is a member.  I enjoyed catching up with Donna and Steve, the wines were excellent, but the overall pretentious and fancy vibe off the place weren’t my thing.

This was an excellent trip.  Alicia enjoyed it all and it was lovely that Clorinda was able to join us.

I had a brief rest on Saturday morning and then it was time to catch my flight to Redmond, Oregon to go and visit Finn in Bend.  I laughed at my rental car – the only other choice was a Toyota Corolla (bit too small).

I picked Finn up at his house and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Joolz Lebanese restaurant.  I was expecting him to be tired after three straight days of work, but he was in good spirits and loved his food.

Those are “camel wings” – Moroccan spice rubbed chicken wings, and sweet potatoes that he’s holding up.  I loved the elk chili and we both were amazed with the date cake.  This place is so good.  Highly recommended if you’re ever in this part of the country.

Finn wanted to sleep in on Sunday – the only day of the week when he has that opportunity, and so I had coffee and breakfast from the Scoutpost food truck (world’s best food truck in my opinion) and Spoken Moto.  The green egg bowl with chorizo is  one of my favourite breakfast dishes ever.

I wandered around Bend after breakfast and came across these guys surfing on the Deschutes river – I think that’s a manmade wave that their riding.

When Finn arose, we drove out to Tumalo Falls and enjoyed a hike up to the top – not too strenuous and with excellent views.

You can tell the weather is perfect, and I love the complete lack of humidity.  After the hike, Finn took me to Don Gambino’s, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant on 3rd street.  I wouldn’t have even noticed the place, but it had excellent tacos with very fresh ingredients.

Before dropping Finn back at his house and heading to the airport, we ascended Pilot Butte, right behind the area where his house is located.  The views of the snow-capped mountains from up there are awesome.

I loved spending some one on one time with Finn and look forward to getting back to Bend soon.  The views from my flight home were pretty spectacular – I always enjoy seeing San Francisco and the bridges from the air.

Diana and I were up early this morning, and decided to have a coffee at Soul Grind and then a nice walk from Linda Mar beach up and over to Rockaway beach and back.  There were a good number of surfers out enjoying their Memorial Day break.  I was frustrated that my heart rate apparently didn’t get high enough to register any more than fifteen minutes of our hour long walk.  Going to have to pick up the pace.

My read this week was “The Death of Vivek Oji” by Akwaeke Emezi.  Here’s a review of the plot:

“One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son’s body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family’s struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious. Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens—and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis—the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.”

The story was quite interesting and fast paced, but I didn’t particularly enjoy this book – maybe too many Nigerian names and phrases for me to keep track of.  Just didn’t really grab my attention – you can tell because I don’t have a single dog-eared page with a quote to share.

I’m skipping the music section this week due to some time challenges – I’ll pick up the album of the week section again next week.

Stay safe and kind to everyone!

Week in Review – May 23, 2021

“Double Birthday Celebration”

We enjoyed a few quiet days before things became quite busy later in the week.

“Inside Bill Gates’ Brain,” a three part series about the Microsoft founder, was our entertainment on Tuesday night.  This was a fascinating look at the life of an interesting character.  In 8th grade (13 or 14) he had the best score in math across all students of all ages in the state of Washington.  I enjoyed learning about the projects that the Gates Foundation has undertaken with funding from Warren Buffet – competitions to create innovative toilets and sanitation plants for African nations, eliminating polio in the last place it exists in the world – Nigeria, and many other amazing activities.  I definitely recommend giving this a look.

The flowers and magnolia trees are in full bloom in the back garden after so much rain over many days.

We spent a happy Wednesday evening trying to arrange some ornaments in the light boxes on top of the cabinets.  I’m quite sure there’s a lot more adjustment and rearranging coming in the future.

We flew to San Francisco on Friday and enjoyed dinner with Amy, Adamo and the crew that evening.  Saturday was a busy day getting ready for the big party on Sunday – setting up tables and chairs, rearranging furniture, arranging flowers, trips to various stores for supplies and on and on.

I think the ladies did a lovely job with the flowers.

We met Will, Christine, Campbell, and Molly for dinner at LV Mar in Redwood City on Saturday night.  Will had given me the choice of several kinds of food for dinner, and I chose Spanish tapas.  That turned out to be a good choice as all the food and drinks were excellent.  Clorinda and Alicia joined us – Clorinda entertaining us with her question, “When shall we order entrees?”, right about the time we were all getting quite full from sharing so many yummy tapas plates.  The pescado pastor (seared halibut tacos) and empanadas were my favourites.

Sunday was the big 21st birthday party for Alicia, hosted at Adamo and Amy’s house.  What an amazing party!  Great turnout, yummy food all afternoon, an excellent live band – what more could you ask for?  Here are some pictures and videos that tell the story of the party much more effectively than my words can:

I really enjoyed having Will, Christine, Campbell, Molly, and Ollie on Gypsy Hill for the first time.  Ollie was very relaxed around so many people, a band, and several other dogs.

The dancing didn’t stop because the band finished playing.  We put on our “Wedding Dancing” playlist:

Adamo and Amy, along with a lot of help from Diana and several others, threw an excellent 21st birthday party.

 

 

Down in New Orleans, the Ogan twins were busy graduating, with Mason off to Alabama and Jack to Tulane for college in a few months.

 

 

I really enjoyed “Ask Again, Yes” by Mary Beth Keane.  Here’s how Amazon reviewers describe the story:

“In Mary Beth Keane’s extraordinary novel, a lifelong friendship and love blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next thirty years. Heartbreaking and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes is a gorgeous and generous portrait of the daily intimacies of marriage and the power of forgiveness.”

Peter describing how he feels when his mother, Kate, suffers a depressive episode and hides out in her room:

“The quiet of the house when she kept to her room was not the peaceful silence of a library, or anywhere near as tranquil.  It was, Peter imagined, more like the held-breath interlude between when a button gets pushed and the bomb either detonates or is defused.  He could feel his own heartbeat at those times.  He could track his blood as it looped through his veins.”

Kate’s father, Francis, vouching for Peter as he applies to the NY police department:

“‘I told them none of it was his fault, what happened that night.  I told them that he’d gone on to do well in school and all that.  What you told me that time, when Mom was in surgery.  Running and getting a scholarship.  They already new that, of course.’

‘So you forgive him then?  You don’t blame him?’  She wanted to throw her arms around him like she was ten again.  ‘You don’t blame me?’

Francis turned.  ‘I never blamed him.  He was fourteen years old.  Why would I blame him?  And why in the world would I blame you?  You’re not understanding the problem here.  You’re not even near understanding it.'”

Peter finally agreeing to see his mother Kate after many years:

“She’d gotten a haircut.  Her clothes looked freshly pressed.  She reached up and patted him on the back, so he patted her back.  They didn’t embrace.  They just kept patting each other, like a person might do to an upset stranger.  Kate narrowed her eyes and could see that Peter was fighting like hell not to cry, his chest rising and falling.  When he turned he had an expression on his face that she’d never seen before.”

The title revealed on page 376:

“‘So you don’t regret marrying me, you just regret the way you asked?  Oh, Peter, I can think of so many other things you should regret.’

‘Yeah.’  He looked down at his empty plate.  ‘Probably.’

‘Hey.  Come back.’  Kate covered his hands with hers.  ‘If you regret it so much, ask me now.  Ask again.  Properly, this time.'”

I’m trying something new this week on the music front.  Let me know what you think.  I’m going to select an album from my collection and share some of the tidbits about it I find through research, some of the history of how I came to own the record (if I can remember), and my thoughts on the music.

Since I’m separated from my collection as I write this post, I’ll select the one that sits at the end of the stack I see each time I walk into my office – ZZ Top’s “First Album.”

I bought this album somewhere around my third year of University.  We had become familiar with ZZ Top via their hugely commercially successful “Eliminator” album with the videos that played regularly on MTV.  Then we heard some of their older, bluesier material, with the rhythm of “La Grange” from the “Tres Hombres” album being the way we would tap on our flat doorbell to let each other know it was us and not an annoying solicitor.  And finally I came across this “First Album”.

I would play the fourth track on side B over and over again in my room in our flat in the Maidens – “Just Got Back from Baby’s”.  The blues guitar sound, opening riff and solo are excellent.  I was hooked in the first 10 seconds.  So different than the commercial ZZ Top.

Billy Gibbons is such an excellent blues guitar player.  We enjoyed him recently (a couple of years ago), performing with Jimmy Vaughan at Eric Clapton’s Blues Festival – a real treat.  Dusty Hill on bass and Frank Beard (the one of the trio without the long beard) on drums provide a very solid backing.

Gibbons said of the album title:

“We called the record ZZ Top’s First Album because we wanted everyone to know that there would be more. We weren’t certain if we’d get another chance in the studio, but we had high hopes.”

He also said of the music:

“We had been together for about six months and were knocking around the bar scene, playing all the usual funky joints. We took the studio on as an extension of the stage show. The basics were all of us playing together in one room, but we didn’t want to turn our backs on contemporary recording techniques. To give our sound as much presence and support as possible, we became a little more than a three piece with the advantages of overdubbing. It was the natural kind of support – some rhythm guitar parts, a little bit of texture. That was about it.”

The album was recorded at Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas and released on January 16, 1971 (yet another example of all the fantastic music released in 1971).  Bill Ham, the band’s manager, produced the record, as he did with the majority of their catalog – up to and including “Eliminator”.  Here’s something from that – how much their sound changed:

 

Stay safe and kind to everyone.