Life of Wry

This day exceeded my expectations about a million-fold. I was looking forward to it, but with a wee bit of trepidation. However, it turned out to be the olympics of reminiscing–great stories and much hilarity.

As I mentioned yesterday, six of us from the way way back sort of spontaneously decided to get together, just for fun, because, why not? It was originally conceived as a gathering of kids who started kindergarten together at Valmonte school. It morphed slightly, as things do, but that was the genesis. The plans were hatched on Facebook and unfolded there over a couple of months. Today was the day.

We got news today and yesterday from two of the six–Wendy C and Sally–that they were unable to come, both for sudden and unexpected health reasons. And that was a huge bummer. Wendy C had been the initiator of the whole idea all those months ago, which was doubly disappointing. We were crushed, but the show must go on.

And it did. We met at about 2:30 at Sarah’s place in the foothills. She greeted us with sangria and an endless mix of rock and roll, mostly from back in the day. We broke out the apps right away (Wendy contributed two fabulous dishes–an almond pate and a curry cream cheese spread) and with that, we were off and running.

The whole day was just ridiculously fun. Our years together had been 1961 to 1974 (1960 if you count nursery school.. a couple went to Miss Pat’s, a couple went to the PV Nursery School Cooperative). What felt remarkable to me was the comfort and ease with which we talked and shared stories and memories. There is a very strong connection to a shared past we all understand and know intimately, even if we didn’t hang out with one another then. Because of that, the day had an unconditionally friendly vibe to it. Conversation felt safe and non-judgmental, there was almost a tenderness between us. We all lived the era and knew fully what it was all about. We knew PV, we knew the schools, the stores, the landmarks, the other kids, their parents, our teachers, the music, the styles, the news and crises of the day. We knew the Southern California scene–LA, Hollywood, aerospace, Mad Men, KHJ, top 40s, civil rights, Sgt. Pepper, RAT Beach… all of it. We knew exactly the experience of the 60s and, in some cases, the fall-out of that. We had similar run ins with our parents. IT. WAS. SO. GRATIFYING to talk about it all.

So much was fascinating… like for instance, we all grew up in relative affluence in a very conservative community (Wendy K’s parents were liberal democrats, unusual in PV), and each of us moved to the opposite side of the political spectrum. Many of our classmates didn’t, however, and not a small percentage drifted even further to the right. But the fact our’s was a gathering of politically like-minded folks made it even more comfortable and relaxed.

Our conversation was rapid-fire and all over the place. Most of it was just laugh out loud funny, or fascinating, as snips of other people’s lives were revealed. Between us, we knew a lot of different people; nobody was in anybody else’s cohort so we had a pretty broad reach, and that was really, really interesting. And of course everyone was living their own life’s miseries and successes. I don’t think we spent nearly as much time on our post-school lives as we did covering the memories from school days.  It was definitely a mix of positive and horrific school experiences.

Probably the most common thing said was, “Wow, I didn’t know that.” I think it’ll take a few more gatherings to catch our collective breath and go deeper, to get to even more meaningful places. One person said it was strangely healing, and I agree.

The conversation was the main attraction for sure, but the setting for the day was also spectacular. Everything was a beautiful feast.. the food, the art, Sarah’s home, its setting in the foothills, the Bear River, the R Street Loft.. all a feast.

Here are some shots:

Nancy, Wendy K and Sarah walking along a trail high above the Bear River:

Nancy, Wendy and Sarah on the rocky banks of the flow-challenged Bear:

Darling ladies, inside and out.

We sat for a long time along the river, talking more and eating the apps I brought. We came back and Sarah laid out this sumptuous dinner spread: grilled artichokes, a beautiful rainbow salad, charred peppers with two salts, spanish tortilla with a rich tomato salsa. Sarah is a gifted chef. Wendy brought a wonderful wine:

This salad reminded me of the asian chopped salad I made a few weeks ago… great presentation. Remember this?

We caravanned down the hill to Sacramento for dessert in Sarah and Gabe’s newly acquired loft in the bohemian R Street area of downtown.

Here we are riding the elevator to the second floor… I photobombed my own picture:

Here’s a shot of the interior of the loft.. note high ceilings, concrete floors, two art tables (making art is a requirement of living there) and stairs leading to bedroom loft, where I’m standing. These lofts just opened a couple of months ago, designed for artists, and works of art are everywhere.

Nancy had made an updated version of the Hostess cupcake, which went well with the chocolate gelato Sarah had picked up. We grabbed both and headed up to the roof…

Here’s a shot of the gardens and a view of downtown Sac:

Sometime around midnight, we figured we’d better wrap up the party… Nancy had a two-hour drive ahead and Wendy had a big day in SF coming up.

Didn’t get any shots of the foothill house nor the “ruins,” an outdoor venue Sarah and Gabe are building on their property to host parties, plays and concerts. (The things you can do with land in the country and able-bodied, creative folks!)

Hoping there will be a next time…

I just love my kid. In all his forms, I just love him. I post these in the hopes that one day, some distant day in the far future when he’s sitting around with his kids (he wants three, you know), flipping through the pages of grandma’s journal, he’ll be pleased that I documented some of these moments of his life, though they may seem, to him, so utterly unremarkable now.  Pleasant, fun and full of the stuff of high school memories, sure, but small moments, nonetheless.

This batch comes from last night’s game at Raley Field. Since Peter’s a pitcher only, his spotlight moments come few and far between.. and maybe getting fewer and farther as the season ramps up. But it’s all part of the deal and he seems quite okay with it. And if he is, we are. It’s all good.

(He did say he missed hitting and wouldn’t mind getting a chance at the plate again, maybe this summer. To what end, I’m not sure, but I’m sure it’s hard to watch all the hitting going on and not be a part of it.)

The Raley Field game is a big to-do. It’s not like the field’s any bigger, but the experience of playing in a huge stadium, under the lights, beneath the Tower Bridge and Sacramento skyline, with big fancy stadium announcers.. well, that part’s pretty neat. I hope it’s neat for those guys who don’t play (like many of the younger classmen and pitchers only). I think it is.

Varsity guys sat in the stands and watched JV guys play in the first game… Solly, Peter, Ian’s mouth and a few unidentified ears:

And provided their own commentary, no doubt… AWalk and Peter (smilin’..):

The JV team scored the game-winning, go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh on a towering walk-off double by Griffin Duisenberg, which was a crowd pleaser (to put it mildly… super exciting). Then the varsity squad took the field for warm up… Peter (smilin’ again) and Ray, fellow PO:

Assembled along the third base line for official game-opening protocol (we brought along our DHS treble choir for the Star-Spangled Banner honors, which made everybody feel right at home). Backsides of: Tyler M (gosh, he’s tall for a freshman..), Mason, Peter, Brendan, Ray and EWalk:

For the record, the JV won 5-4, and the Varsity won 2-1, both against the formidable Rocklin. Highlights for DHS included a powerful pitching performance from Walter, very fine relief innings from Brendan and Ian, some great hitting from Drew, a gorgeous bunt from Andrew B, and totally solid defense. I hope this all portends a solid season with way more Ws than Ls. So far so good.

And here’s just another photo I saw on the Davis Enterprise site that I loved and again shows the smily side of Peter. It was taken at last week’s game up in Woodland. This was a mound visit, though I don’t remember any occurring during the innings Peter pitched (always a good sign). Still, it’s on the mound, Peter’s still got the ball and, importantly, he’s smiling, so clearly he’s not getting called out for anything.

That ready smile is one of the things I love about Peter. Pictured here: Q, not sure, Nate, Peter, Kenner, Danny and Hunter. Danny’s also very smily. Love those guys.

This is a very illegal borrow of a photo that I totally don’t have the rights to, thus the “proof” stamped across the bottom. I took a screen shot of the image and plan to purchase it from the Enterprise. Promise. Wayne Tillcock gets all the credit on this one.

It IS going to be a big day.. this thing I’m prepping for. I’m looking forward to it AND am a wee bit apprehensive. This thing is a reunion, of sorts, with a handful of women who go all the way back to kindergarten days (with one minor exception). It’s what happens when a benign Facebook thread about some random reference to elementary school days goes from an oft proffered we should get together sometime to when are you all available?

And before you know it, dates are proposed, venues are considered, plans are sketched out…

And, eventually, a real live date approaches on a real live calendar and then the weekend arrives and real live logistics get worked out.

(Eeeeeek! I’m totally game, but it’s also been a couple of lifetimes since I saw most of these women and even then, as it happens, none of us really hung out with any of the others… so we are, for all practical purposes, strangers, except we went to kindergarten together (more or less) and spent about thirteen years attending the same schools. What could go wrong?)

And that’s how six of us came to make plans to see one another this weekend up in Colfax, CA.

So… I got the car washed, because Wendy K is going to ride from Davis to Colfax with me. Here is a photo I took as I was leaving the carwash… a little treasure trove of stuff the crew dug out from the hard-to-reach spaces. Whatcha get when sharing your car with your son. They did remove all the stickiness. Yay.

In preparation, I also assembled some trail snacks… my modest contribution to the day’s eats.

Decided on blue cheese-stuffed olives, medjool dates and almonds, this standard combo—two good thing to have on the trail–juicy and salty: prosciutto and melon…

(looks a bit disgusting doesn’t it?)

and my latest fave, red bell peppers and oil-cured olives…

Something about that combo…it’s the sweet, watery crunch of the pepper and the super salty, oily texture of the olives. Yum. Discovered by accident one day last week when making a pizza…
The silliness of making an hors d’oeuvre out of pepper and olive reminds me of that episode of That Girl (1966-71) when Ann has to come up with an appetizer for guests her boyfriend, Donald Hollinger, is bringing over to impress. She has nothing in her kitchen so comes up with the idea of putting small dabs of peanut butter on cornflakes.  Zany huh? Typical 60s sitcom ya?

Anyway.

Looking forward to Saturday’s rendesvous.

When last I left you, we’d removed a tangelo, two redbuds, a cherry, and two volunteer figs. We’d also shifted a couple of peaches, relocated a lime, and just acquired a new Meyer lemon and Japanese maple. I won’t go into more distant history and the loss of our beloved almond, ornamental plum, and Bradford pear that canoped our driveway, nor the departure of our long ago modesto ash, first sycamore, several birches, numerous crape myrtles, and countless victims of armillaria (a couple of maytens and our first Japanese maple)…

In our almost nineteen years in this house, there’s been a lot of tree change. (That might have been a better blog title.) We’ve gone through a fair amount of heartache at the loss of some great trees. But we’ve also planted a whole bunch of good ones, too. So, we move on.

Today, we added two more fruit trees…  a Dapple Dandy pluot..

… which we planted in the front yard (replacing the huge, unwieldy, out-of-scale tangelo).

And, its partner in pollination, the Santa Rosa plum…

… which we planted in the back yard and which I forgot to take a picture of.

Both will have lovely white blossoms, which will complement all the pink. Should be really pretty come next spring.

New thing I learned today: point the nub of your grafted rootstock thing to the north (so it doesn’t get sunburned, of course).

And a plug for Lemuria, a super great place to buy plants and trees. We spread our business out among all the local places, but I have to say, a trip out to Lemuria is a real treat. It’s an impressive spread.

(Funny… just noticed somebody made off with one of their W’s…)

Look who had some time to read today.

Finally achieving the time is both enormously glorious and annoyingly disorienting. I want to revel in the time and soak up every delicious second of it, and yet it’s also disquieting. Like, this is odd, it’s 2:00 in the afternoon and I have nothing pressing, nothing that needs to be done.

I can actually kick back and do some reading.

I consider this research (not the little eddy I’m sitting in, but the reading itself).

And, encouragingly, fifty seven pages into this book and I’ve got ideas and thoughts I must turn into my own storytelling. Just a few, some already floating off, but they do get sparked.

So I shall endure the weirdness. I think it’s productive.

Title refers to two things.

First–and this one’s good–my semi-to-thrice annual brunch in Berkeley with Elliot. I so look forward to these. We do the same thing each time, so they’ve become a no brainer… we meet at the same time (10:00), eat at the same place (Rick and Ann’s), park in the same place (on Claremont Blvd), then walk somewhere.

And that’s it, breakfast and a walk–both vehicles for lots of conversation. And picture taking. Conversation used to be all shop talk, now it’s becoming more about what our kids are doing… and old people things–today arthritis and scary health conditions.

And it’s Berkeley, so, you know, there’s a ton of stuff to look at. Nothing beats a Berkeley yard for charming and clever. All of it is a feast for the eyes–the architecture, the flowers, the yard designs, the colors. Sometimes we walk on campus. Years past, we’ve hiked up at Tilden or climbed Indian Rock, or wandered down by the marina. But my favorites are the neighborhood walks. Today we walked along College Ave (because i needed to avoid hills) including the Rockridge area of Oakland.

Here are a few shots:

A narrow and interesting looking passage way…

THIS was quite the street view… a charming little law office with picket fence covered in purple flowers, next to ivy-covered red brick building, with blue mosque-like building behind and an old yellow Dodge-something in front.

The Yasai Market..

Then we wandered down a residential side street and saw some neat houses. This one I liked… painted all various shades of white with stand out blue steps:

And this one with a sweet blue garage, which appeared not to be for cars:

We did a lot of this:

(That’s Elliot, who’s just downloaded my favorite camera app, Camera Plus, and is experimenting with it.)

Messed with macros:

Then said buh bye ’til next time:

The second thing that was sweet, but not so good, was the pie I made for Pi Day (a couple days late due to no time over the weekend).

It was a S’More Pie, which sounded good, and tasted pretty good, but it was way, way, WAY too rich. Insane. Don’t make it, it will kill you.

It’s got a graham cracker crust (tons of butter and graham crackers crumbs) for a bottom layer. The filling is semi-sweet chocolate, warmed, melted and mixed with heavy cream, milk and a couple of eggs, then baked. The top layer is marshmallows… which go on after the pie has set and comes out of the oven.

At least I used healthy-ish marshmallows…

..which I cut into thirds and covered the whole pie with..

Then it goes under the broiler, and comes out like this–roasted marshmallows.

It’s got to cool for a few hours, then you cut it into pieces, warm each piece very slightly in the microwave to soften the layers and ignite the flavors, and eat it. One bite and you’re done.

Peter actually ate his whole piece, Jim ate his and the rest of mine. Sure they’ll both be sick later.

** Hi, it’s me, a few days later. This pie? Fantastic! I’ve been taking a bite here and there straight out of the pan and I’m loving it. The inside layer is like a dense, solid mousse and it’s smooth, rich and heavenly. The crust is just fine, the marshmallows on top add a nice texture and a nice departure from the intensity of the filling. Bottom line, I like the pie a lot. Rich, but good! Not likely to make it again, but I’m enjoying my occasional, stolen bites.  

A few pictures on the day…

A nice cluster of red tulips with a smattering of daffs on the way to brunch this morning. (And by the way, Bernardo’s is serving up the best corned beef hash I’ve ever eaten. Ever. I’m not kidding. I ordered it without the potatoes (I know, but I just wanted the corned beef). Probably just for the month of March. Consider yourself informed.)

On the drive to the Bay Area… goofed around with yet another picture of those lollipop trees in Dixon.

Monica and Jim, talking about dreams, I think (as in the powerful one Jim had last night about finding a porcelain owl atop a sand dune).

Some of Monica’s birthday flower haul. Happy Birthday Monica! (it was also great to see the John Frames and good buddies Lucy and Charlie.)

The other Charlie, a very relaxed fat cat.

We’ve got several different things going on here..

First–and it was more significant to the kiddo than I expected it to be–it was SAT day, as in the SATs, as in that measurement of what you’ve learned and what you have the capacity to achieve, an appeal to all future potential college admissions offices to Take me!, Take me! That test. This was that day.

Peter tests pretty well, I think because he doesn’t get all wound up about tests. He’s a pretty relaxed, easy going guy. He’s also always been enormously curious, spending a lot of screen time sponging up great gobs of information. And he loves to quiz himself, loves to answer questions. Loves to measure his knowledge of things. His favorite app is a trivia quiz app that has questions in science, history, math, current events, you name it. He spends crazy amounts of time on that thing competing against both friends and strangers all over the world. He’s always been about quantifying (he’s been the how many, how far, how deep, how fast guy from the time he could talk). He loves to take IQ tests (we endlessly remind him they are not valid); he just enjoys the exercise of answering questions.

So tests are okay.

But he seemed nervous this morning, and it turns out, he was. He was very happy when he got home and it was all over (and not so bad). He talked about it for most of the afternoon.

And I guess he gets all of this from both Jim and me. We’re both in our respective ways a mix of numbers, order, measuring, tracking, quizzy things, and both a bit OCD.

For the record, we don’t push Peter. He’s the bees knees no matter what he scores on tests, of course, and always, and he knows that. This measuring, assessing and quantifying thing is all him. He came out that way. We’re responsible in that we have the same gene.  (Jim measures things for a living. I track everything. It’s how the world makes sense. Right?)

Anyway, SAT. Got up way early for a Saturday morning, Jim made Peter a big pancake breakfast, I drove him to Woodland for the test. Change of subject? How ’bout these sunrise shots?

While he was off testing, we were busting our butts at the Varsity Baseball complex at DHS. Annual parent work day. It was actually quite fun and satisfying. Music cranked from the announcer box/snack shack, the clouds gave way to an 81 degree day, and we did back breaking work… hula hoeing weeds, wheelbarrowing around and distributing dirt, hammering dugouts back together, slatting fences, edging base paths. Stuff like that.

This was my area (with Margie and Dianna): the visitor dugout. The weed-free visitor dugout. 

Finally it was the PI DAY OF THE CENTURY! (And Albert Einstein’s birthday, coincidentally.) Sure you’ve heard, but this year there existed a moment in time that corresponded exactly to the first ten digits of pi… March 14, ’15, 9:26:53

My effort to capture this moment in photographic perpetuity failed. I was going to take a screen shot of my iPhone as the moment occurred, but realized I didn’t know how to take a screen shot. So with little time to spare before the big moment, I went to the googles (a bit frantically). I got the information, which was great, but as we approached the once-a-century moment in time, all I got was a screen shot of how to take a screen shot.

I have to wonder why Apple placed the volume button directly across from the sleep/wake button… it’s hard to push one w/o pushing the other.

Panic was setting in.

By the time I mastered the technique, the moment had passed. I got 3.141592841. Not pi.

So that was a bust.

Later, after the work day, Jim and I went to lunch at Crepeville (you don’t say).  And look what I found:

Pi is everywhere.

No Friday the 13th horribleness today.

Well, unless you call my computer crashing and leaving me with nothing but a flashing desktop (terrifying, if you’re me). After numerous powering downs and rebootings, we fixed it with something called a “safe reboot” which looks like it reloaded my operating system and in the process eliminated the problem. Except now I’m noticing some other glitchy things that may be related, may not. This is going to have to be a Saturday the 14th problem to solve.

Otherwise it was a perfect day. Unless you were maybe hoping for a DHS baseball win in Yuba City. Especially with your kiddo on the mound. That didn’t happen, nor did he pitch particularly well, but nothing too horrible, unless giving up seven hits is a problem for you. When looking for the positive, we call that throwing strikes. We hear the pitchers were the not the object of the coaches’ wrath in the postgame talk, so there’s that. Won’t think about ERAs until Saturday the 14th either.

If I thought harder, I might find some other flaws in the day, like missing the daily fruit and vegetable goal or running out of time to call mom for the third day in a row, but let’s not think harder. Besides, it’s way too late for aimless, stupid blog posts. So I’ll just post a few favorite pictures for the day and go to bed, if you don’t mind.

Trees in bloom on the way to Yuba City this late afternoon…

Chickens tend to cross the road near the Yuba City Starbucks, it would seem. Every time we’re in town for a game and have time to kill before the first pitch, we wander over to the Starbucks on Franklin to grab something to drink or whatever, and every time, we’ve seen escapees from the property across the street.

We’re finally posting a couple of our own baseball photos instead of stealing Wes’s.  Jim took these of Peter on the mound tonight.

Good job, Jim!

(Note: I couldn’t edit any of these photos because iPhoto seems to have suffered some damage as a result of my computer’s crash today.. another problem for tomorrow..so apols for lo-res, impressionistic chickens; too-big margins; crooked horizons and lackluster colors.)

My cousin Heidi, my aunt Joy and I were treated to a wonderful few hours at the Oakland Museum of California today by our cousin Jane, who has been a docent there for five years. Jane, an artist herself, was knowledgable and passionate about the exhibits. It was perfect.

We looked at some amazing art (yep, Diego Rivera’s The Flower Carrier)…

…had a clever little arty lunch–as one does in museum cafes (this was just my lunch!) …

…and caught up on each other’s lives and those of countless family members. We did not gossip. Not one bit.

We also laughed a lot…

Here’s a slightly more serious shot… Heidi, Aunt Joy, and the wonderful Cousin Jane, 81, the way-more-than-decent docent!

Here’s a great shot of my beautiful cousin (I had to edit myself out of this selfie, because jeez, who wants to be photographed next to her?! I looked a little like Barney Rubble in this picture, so you can understand my editing myself out.)

Spending the day with the three of them was the main attraction, but it was a SUPER bonus to happen upon OMCA’s special temporary exhibition, a collaboration with SFMOMA called Fertile Ground.

Fertile Ground was an exhibit in four parts, each identifying a significant moment in California art history, characterized by four very unique communities of artists that “changed the face of modern and contemporary art.”

This was a very neat exhibit (will close in April, after a seven month run). I loved it because not only did it feature artists I actually knew and/or loved, one of the sections was completely dedicated to the art that came out of UC Davis. UC Davis! Hell, I even once dated one of a featured artist’s sons.

So, the first section in this great exhibit was about muralists and public artists in the 1930s, mostly Diego Rivera. Mostly this section had to do with Rivera’s mural The Allegory of California which is presently painted all over a wall and ceiling in the Pacific Stock Exchange. They had a much smaller replica on display..

I found most fascinating Rivera’s pencil drawings, which were all studies of the figures used in the mural. I am always stunned by an artist’s raw talent.. always love to see their more informal sketches.

I really loved this one (and bought a refrigerator magnet of it, of course). Jane said it was of the great 1920s tennis player Helen Wills (Moody), who may or may not have been romantically involved with Rivera (though he was married to Frieda Kahlo). This study ultimately became part of the ceiling portion of this mural; you can see the ends of her legs in the photo above.

There was another whole section about the influence of the SF Art Institute in the 40s and 50s (then called the California School of Fine Arts) with photographers like Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Edward Weston, and abstract painters like Mark Rothko and Richard Diebenkorn. And Diebenkorn… I’ve always really loved his work (this one not particularly abstract):

But the third section of the show…

This was all about UC Davis in the 60s and 70s. In the opinions of the curators of this exhibit, the then newly-named art department chair Richard L. Nelson showed brilliant leadership in recruiting an eclectic and iconoclastic founding faculty including Robert Arneson, William T. Wiley, Wayne Thiebaud, Manuel Neri and Roy De Forest to whom he gave total artistic freedom to experiment with new forms and ideas.

“The result, through the mid-70s, was a flourishing of wildly imaginative art that used humor, irony, and absurdity to outrage and provoke.” (Think the very controversial 1981 Moscone bust he was commissioned to do for the City of San Francisco.)

And to wit, Arneson’s self-sculpture, including marijuana, lipstick-stained cigarette butts, and a cracked foundation. (Yes, it was his son.)

The promotional billboard for the show featured a Thiebaud piece (I bought a print of this one to add to other Thiebaud prints.)

And I really liked this Arneson bust of Jackson Pollack:

The final section of influential California art movements was about the Mission scene. Not mission in the usual California sense, but Mission as in San Francisco’s bustling, bohemian district. In the 90s, art thrived in the Mission when “global events seemed to threaten the fabric of community, such as the first dot-com boom and subsequent gentrification, the war in Iraq, a rampant AIDS epidemic, the Rodney King trial, and the collapse of the federal government’s support for artists.” There was street art, graphic art and lots of talented, younger artists.

This is a piece by Barry McGee:

We also spent about an hour wandering through the section of the museum dedicated to California’s history, which has to be one of the best around. This deserves weeks; it was fascinating to see the history all in one place and so cleverly displayed. So want to come back and take lots and lots of time to absorb it all.

Bade adieu and drove out of downtown Oakland along Lake Merritt, which, believe it or not, I’d never seen. It’s quite pretty:

Left wanting more time, both in the museum and with Heidi, Joy and Jane!