Life of Wry

Haven’t been outside in forever (fires = unbreathable air) so no pictures to post of Davis’s late summer loveliness…

(That’s actually not true. I ventured out today to deliver a thank you bottle of wine to Steve the landscape guy. It was gross. Not Steve, not the errand.. but the air, the ash, the colorlessness. The ash.. omg. You walk out of the house these days and ash swirls in the turbulence you create just by moving. My car was covered in it. When I opened my car door, ash poofed up all over the place like if you dropped a big rock in a cold and spent campfire pit. I was wearing black leggings and I hesitated to sit on the front seat b/c it was covered in ash. My leggings ended up with little ash smears all over them. I made my delivery and got back inside.. after brushing and shaking myself off. And I should note, the fire that’s probably causing all this bad air is the Creek Fire, over two hundred miles away. There are fires that are closer, but they aren’t nearly as big and that huge LNU fire which burned 363,000 acres all over the Berryessa, Santa Rosa, Napa, Vacaville areas is now 95% contained. Which reminds me of a couple of statistics I heard today: 2.5 million acres of California has burned, which represents 2% of all California land.. although now I can’t remember if that’s this year or in the last few… and 95% of fires are caused by people who do stupid things and are therefore preventable, which makes me sick.)

(That was quite an aside.)

So, I don’t have any outside photos.

I’m spending great gobs of time indoors, like everyone in California right now, so I took a picture of my view just a moment ago so I could post something.. it’s a nice view.

I’m lying on the window seat, which is incredibly comfortable, looking toward the kitchen. Enjoying the remodel so so much during this pandemic/fire shut in time.

I’m reminded of when Peter was an infant, Jim and I had all these “stations” for Peter to hang out in… we’d mix it up to keep him from getting bored (or something.. not sure why we moved him around so much). And we had names for all of these stations… the dome of pleasure (one of these fabric self contained entertainment units with the overhead dangly things), the barcolounger (it was nothing of the sort, but was some kind of baby bed that we set up adjacent to our own that he never slept in at night because he slept with us forever, it seemed), the vibrolounger (one of those vibrator chairs), the swing (can’t remember its name, but it was one of those things you wound up and they would swing and swing), and so on.

(That was also quite an aside.)

Anyway, I think of that now because that’s me these days. I go from window seat, to desk, to leather chair, to other desk, to other leather chair, back to window seat. I might throw in a stint on the futon in Peter’s room, and yesterday I even sat on the couch for a while. I find it hard to get comfortable after a while.. too much sitting. I have a route in the house that measures out to about a quarter mile; it’s repetitious, but saves me when I’m going stir crazy and can’t get outside.

They say the Creek Fire will be contained by late October.

We’ve hit bottom. Again. And with two months left before what’s sure to be a disaster of an election, I’m sure we haven’t found the floor.

I was already depressed today. In six months of daily pandemic horror, today was the worst (the new worst). The pandemic, its impacts on our lives, the no-end-in-sight-ness is numbing and sad. And lately, it has became all the more unbearable because of the heat, the fires, the smoke and that disgusting ash all over everything. That hideous air outside our windows is undoubtedly seeping into our homes and settling into our lungs. It is so ugly. So destructive. I ache for California, the charring of our beautiful hills and forests, the lost wildlife. The lost green.

I was feeling pretty marginal this morning. All I wanted to do was get in my car and drive the hell out of here, somewhere far away from this smoke. If possible, this country.

Instead, I made myself stick to all my routines; I just did my workout and tried to work through my to-do list, imposing order where none was needed, just to feel in control of something.

And I listened to the news. Blockbuster day with blockbuster revelations. The stupid president, on tape, maybe trying to impress Bob Woodward, revealed he knew in early February stuff about this virus he refused to acknowledge publicly and refused to impart to the people in this country. Namely the virus is deadly, it’s highly transferable via breath, it infects children, and is worse than the flu by orders of magnitude. He knew all that, but promoted otherwise, because that kind of news would justify shutting everything down which would mess with the economy and he needed a thriving economy for his reelection. In all his transactional glory, he was trying to fake his way to a different reality.

Blah blah blah. We knew all that. We knew he intentionally politicized it. We knew he knew the risks but didn’t care. We knew that his recklessness of denying it was real, denying masks, denying any preventative effort whatsoever, was purely, intentionally political. We knew the con was part of his perverse calculation to “save the economy” and his reelection. We knew his reelection interests were putting ALL of us at risk. AND STILL ARE. We are in this never-ending mess because of him, him alone, and the power he’s abused as president. We KNEW THAT!!!! 

And now we have proof. 

But the gut-punch is that none of this will matter. I heard Kayleigh McEneny today calling it leadership.. it being his way of keeping everyone calm, not creating panic. The rest of us call it lying and unconscionable. Like, who believes he doesn’t live for chaos?! But, as usual, they’re scrambling.

Anyway.. adding to all the ongoing depression fodder is the realization that nothing he does, has done, or ever will do matters. Even if he kills 190,000 people. And counting. It just won’t matter. His people will follow him right off the cliff. They will not hear anything but what he tells them, what they want to hear. They are so unbudgeable that we’ll divide in the same percentages that we have all along. And because of all the cheating they’ve done thus far, and everything he’ll do to destabilize the election and its result, it’s hard to imagine an outcome different than 2016.

So, that’s all pretty sickening.

The Coronavirus response part of the Woodward tapes today was mind blowing enough. There were other shocking revelations, as well. First off, trump agreed to be interviewed 18 times, and recorded, for Woodward’s book. That surprises me. There may be more to come out, which is intriguing, but again, it won’t matter. I personally found trump’s comments about white privilege to be stomach turning: he literally laughed at Woodward and accused him of drinking the Kool-aide when Woodward spoke of his own privilege and his own efforts to understand the pain of black Americans. And I found these quotes to be kind of shocking, yet perversely satisfying (but holy shit, who wants to know these things about one’s president (not my president)).

All in all, just depressing news on top of depressing news on top of depressing news.

As of a few minutes ago, this is the report on the Creek Fire:

Officials are calling the fire an “unprecedented disaster” as flames spiral in all directions of the Sierra National Forest. The blaze has scorched nearly 144,000 acres and remains at 0% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.

It’s located east of northeast of Fresno, southwest of Yosemite/Mammoth:

And, I actually have quite a number of photos that I took of this area just one year ago.

An Aside: I’d dropped Peter off in Yosemite on September 17th to hike as many days as he could squeeze in on the John Muir Trail before having to return to UCSD for the start of his senior year. We’d just flown in from a week in Utah — Bryce, Zion — celebrating Teri’s 70th birthday, late on the night of the 15th. And, I kid you not, Peter was hell bent on hiking at least some of the JMT, so on the morning of the 16th, we got up and drove to Lee Vining–stopping at REI on the way to rent a tent and bear box, and at a store in Copperopolis to load up on food. And just for a little extra drama, the winds were so high and the fire danger so great, PG&E had shut off power all over that part of California as a safety measure, so zero electricity in Lee Vining, which meant Peter was packing his bear box and practicing tent set up in the dark (we had head lamps and the hotel front desk had provided candles).

At the crack of dawn on the 17th, we lined up with other hopeful hikers for one of the limited same-day permits the Park Service issues for the JMT (most will have reserved a slot on this iconic Sierra trail a year in advance… and prepared for this once in a lifetime adventure accordingly!). He got one (which.. don’t ask what he’d have done had he not gotten one).

So.. yeah.. he was definitely pushing the calendar, and pushing his luck, but had really wanted to fit in at least some time on the JMT, and it worked out. Here he is (with a shoe lace from my shoe in place of a missing bootlace):

Excited … and quite nervous … was he.

At the end of his third day of hiking, we got the text via his InReach Garmin that he was ready to come out. He let us know there was a resupply point at Vermillion Valley Resort (resort is an interesting word to describe this place), and that he’d meet me there at the end of day four (approx 80 miles from where he’d started four days earlier).

So, I made the 5-hr or so drive down there, he hiked another 20+ miles and we both converged on VVR at about the same time (he actually got there an hour before I did, checked in and was showered. We had a great dinner then played some gin rummy.

Here’s a picture of us in our rented trailer (that’s one of the options at VVR):

Anyway…. this is all a great story, very worth telling.. and I will! But this is a blog post about the Creek Fire. So.. back to that.

When I looked at a map of the fire boundary this morning, I realized the fire was destroying that gorgeous swath of the Sierra I’d passed through last year to pick Peter up .. so went back to look at some of my photos:

This is somewhere just south of Shaver Lake, I believe. I actually pulled over for this shot and got out of the car. Kind of reminded me of the Smoky Mountains with their layers and layers of ridges.

This is along the way.. perhaps passed Huntington Lake and making my way up to Edison Lake and the Vermillion Valley Resort (where Peter will meet me).

These are a few shots from what was one of the most spectacular roads I’d ever driven.. narrow, and in parts cut straight through granite ..

And eventually–it was a long and windy road–you pass Mono Hot Springs, wend a bit further, and finally come to Edison Lake.

I just read that there were about 50 JMT thru-hikers huddled at VVR waiting to be rescued today. While they expected to airlift them, it turned out most were able to be guided out in a car caravan — perhaps because the fire had already passed through this area. Not exactly sure. The pictures of fire damage are horrific.

I know fire is a vital part of a healthy forest. Jim told me tonight that something like 80% of the forest that burned had been infected by bark beetles and was just a giant tinderbox. So maybe there’s a silver lining in there somewhere. Still… the devastation from these fires is breathtaking and heartbreaking. California has watched a lot of forest burn in the last few years. And we haven’t even started this year’s official fire season.

I try not to dwell in my blog on So.. Much.. Negative.. there is so much right now. But I fear that if somebody dropped down from space and read my blog (just go with me here), they might think that life is all hunky dory, and that all I do is cook and muse happily about Peter.

Those things are true. All things considered, Jim and I have it relatively easy. Life isn’t all that hunky dory, but we’re not struggling. This has to do with stage of life, no kiddos at home, no work to report to, little in the way of health stresses and money worries. And, indeed, Peter’s in a rarified space in his young life, and seizing the moment.. so, yeah, pretty happy about that. (Deeply happy.)

But lest we forget the hell hole we’re [all] in.. here’s a pic of my phone from yesterday:

I mean, really:

• Almost three weeks of fires and smoky, unhealthy, brown air. Been inside for most of that time.
• Temperatures breaking all kinds of records.. here in Davis, under 108 or so, but in Woodland Hills it was 121 today (I texted Kath). That’s insane.
• Winds coming up tomorrow that will either clear out some smoky air or fan the flames, or both. I’m extremely anxious about that.
• Pandemic day #179. Nothing more need be said, except it seems like it’ll never end as long as Trump’s in office. And speaking of which…
• Election stress of the highest order. He must be voted out.

So.. yeah. 

For the record, though I’ll talk about it more later, Ruben’s back and landscaping has begun again. Jim and I looked at walls around town over the weekend and it now seems like it’s actually possible we will have a front and back yard again. 

It was a good effort, is about all I can say for it, but it’s a good starting point for future efforts.

Made Vietnamese fresh spring rolls.. that is, raw ingredients, wrapped in rice paper, eaten cold, just like that. Not fried. Not cooked in any way.

Dipped in dipping sauce.

Let me start with that. The recipe actually called for a sauce that is made with something called preserved black beans. When the coop did not have such a thing, Jim brought home regular black beans. When I read that regular black beans are not a substitute for preserved black beans, I ditched that dipping sauce recipe and found another that sounded pretty good. And it was.. best part of the whole dish, actually.

You whisk together some hoisin, peanut butter and a little pork broth (I used chicken broth). Then, quickly fry up some minced garlic in a little bit of oil, add the hoisin mixture, then some sugar, let it simmer a bit, and cool. It was too thick for dipping (even though they said to let it thicken), so I added a bit more broth. It was great.

Then prep some: basil, cilantro, mint, bean sprouts, chives and red bell pepper.

Those are the rice papers on the left.. they’ll be set in cold water until they get soft (but not soggy), about 30 seconds. This is the before.

Rolled up, they look like this:

Not the tidiest rolls. And in fact, the tighter and denser, the better. Lesson one (of many).

And here’s the whole presentation with that great dipping sauce, chopped peanuts and chopped chives (and peaches and frosty white wine.. because: summer).

So.. our evaluation was: They were pretty raw and lacking in substance. Were it not for the richness of the dipping sauce, they’d be pretty dull. So.. you could add rice or chicken or shrimp… something. And, as I said, pack them tightly so they don’t fall apart.

Teri and Chad are the first (by orders of magnitude) among our generation of Frame sibs and cousins to reach 50 years of marriage. Jim and I, for example, just a few years behind them in age, will be celebrating our 24th anniversary this year. Helps to get married at 20… and not 43, if you’re looking to hit the big numbers!

I made a little slide show.. really little — only four photos… here are two of them.

And here’s what we looked like, the whole lot of us.

We actually talked for nearly two hours! Teri, Chad, Brian, Amy, Jim, Kari, Peter, Marty, Marie, Mark, Monica, Dror, Ben, Nina, John, Maita, Matthew, Dean, Mary, George, Cece, and Alan.. who showed up about 1:40 minutes in (he thought it was next weekend)!

Covered a lot of territory, a lot of years, so many stories (it’s a Frame gathering, after all!).

They met in a chemistry class at Piedmont High School and got married while in college (UCD, UC Berkeley). Theirs is a story of respect and devotion. And life-long love. Happy happy anniversary Teri and Chad.

Sentimental is what happens on those days when you get to have a long conversation with your far away son.

Then, when digging back into the archives for something else (check back tomorrow for what), I came across these two ..

Peter’s 11 here.

[Note: Still trying to get my sea legs with the new block editor here.. so not attempting anything too fancy tonight. I should say, the tech support team was pretty great last night. Couldn’t solve all my issues last night but this morning I got final resolution on the last of the problems — a few lines of code I needed to insert into my engine.. that was a bit new for me.. but it worked. There will be more changes, but I’ll explain those later.]

So.. the respite to which I refer in the title is respite from the smoke! Vicki and I could walk today. We were able to complete the entire loop around the arb.. which was the first time in OVER TWO WEEKS!

Here is a celebration photo.

You can see all the poop; these guys have just moved right in and claimed this whole section of the path on the far west end of the arb. I think they got kind of used to a people-free environment while we were all stuck in our houses, and maybe got a bit to comfortable. We’ll see if the gaggle remains as the days go on.

The other thing celebrate today is another summer bounty dinner. It was a night of leftovers, but it was summer fare-rich… you got your tomatoes (best of the summer so far), avocados, peaches, zucs, broc, more tomatoes, basil, cabbage, garlic, and rice. And Turkovich.

It looks like I eat a lot. And I do. (#immagoodeater)

I am exhausted trying to will this blog into shape.. but I will say it’s easier tonight than it was last night.

The nice tech support woman told me I’d be best off changing my theme. That is hard for me; I’ve used this “Simpla” theme since 2008. So we’ll see what that change brings. I do feel a renewed sense of anxiety around getting this entire blog into print form. I’m a lot of years behind on that. This seems like a good time to go there.. been putting it off for a very long while. After inserting those lines of code, I feel a bit emboldened.

[FYI, WordPress has seriously messed with the editor and I do not know what I am doing, especially do not know how to add a photo. And this has happened within the same week that Facebook changed its format and forced me out of “classic” mode. I’m extremely irritated and NOT amused.]

Did that work?

Good lord… I can’t even tell you what’s appearing in my editor…

On the assumption that this is working, I will tell you that the above is what will serve as Peter’s first day of school photo, on this, the third day of PhD school.

And with that, I will attempt to publish this… wish me luck.

Ever since the 2016 election, I’ve been reading–daily–an email summary of the news, written by a guy named Matt who lives in Seattle. He was incredulous about the firehose of shocking news blasting us from day one of the current clown car of an administration and started his daily summary, entitled, “What the Fuck Just Happened Today.”

He starts with a single paragraph that captures the main news items (as relate to the machinations of the administration), then, fully referenced, provides detail on each item below that, interspersed with resources and some humor. He’s a funny guy, and from what I can glean, smart and full of humanity.

I’ve sent him some money here and there to support his effort, and own a WTFJHT t-shirt. I’m a fan. He’s got a huge following; I recommend subscribing.

Last week, at the end of the day’s newsletter, he posted this blurb:

Sounded like a great project, so.. I thought about it and came up with this:

Not entirely sure it’s what he was looking for, but it was fun to think about.