Life of Wry

Today was a dramatic day in the courtroom. The young man who stabbed two Davis residents to death, and tried to kill a third, blurted out an apology for what he’d done and proclaimed that he was guilty. This caught his lawyer by surprise (and, well, everyone in the courtroom). The judge said something about the defendant’s Fifth Amendment rights and his lawyer asked for some time to counsel his client, and off they went to a private room.

This happened during what was to have been a fairly brief court procedure having to do with his competence to stand trial. The lawyers were going to haggle a little about whether or not to accept the findings of a court-appointed psychiatrist. And then everyone expected a few more procedural steps would occur over the course of a few weeks, followed by a jury trial to resolve the issue of competence. If and when he’s found competent, a criminal trial will happen to establish guilt. (I’m learning a lot about these things.)

Honestly, the outburst was heartbreaking. He wasn’t supposed to say anything. He is one lost, troubled and deeply damaged 21-year old. He absolutely brutally killed two people — randomly, senselessly (this of course is alleged at this point). He absolutely profoundly and forever altered the lives of the victims’ families and friends. And he is clearly not in his right mind. Who knows what prompted the week-long killing spree. The whole story is tragic and just so unfathomable.

And there sat his family, wondering what in god’s name happened to their son, brother, who until two days before killing David was a student at UCD. They seem confused and overwhelmed and helpless to right the ship. There, too, was the family of the 20-year old victim — also a UCD student — angry, grieving, still in shock, all wearing t-shirts bearing his image. And Maria and me, sitting there for David.

It was a courtroom full of frayed nerves and raw emotion all around.

We’re at the beginning of what I expect will be a long process, ending how.. I’m not quite sure.

After dates were set for the next procedural steps, we (victim families/friends) gathered with the assistant DA and a victims’ liaison who answered questions and explained all kinds of things. It’s an interesting process.. again, learning a lot. Maria and I then made our way to the building’s exit, where we found a lot of media waiting. I answered questions last time following the arraignment (it was too fresh and emotional for Maria then), Maria did it this time. She was eloquent and thoughtful. And she spoke of compassion toward everyone involved. As David would have wanted.

Baking as meditation. Cooking, too. Because I’m so slow and precise, ordered and meticulous, my cooking & baking really are sorta meditative. I only realized that yesterday. It’d been awhile since I cooked… had been gone for a month, came back and took awhile to get my sea legs (home sea legs). Then went off for another 4-5 days. And now I’m back and it was Father’s Day and I wanted to make Jim something special.. or at least new.. so made this new cake and a nice dinner.

It was good!

But it seemed more about the process. I definitely enjoyed the process, as much as (if not more than) the outcome. We laughed last night as we finished dinner. Honest to god.. I spent a few hours in the kitchen making the cake and then making dinner (a rich, deeply flavored roasted chicken dish… one of those Chris Kimball flavor bomb dishes).. and it took literally 10 minutes to eat (if that). It was a nice (if quick!) ten-minute dinner, which followed several hours of dinner prep. Which I loved.

I’ll have to ponder that a little more.. my slow cooking. Maybe I can learn to move even more into the process, the meditation of it, as a way to be in the moment. Maybe there is something to be learned in that. In fact I know there is. I have a book on it.. it’s called Being Home and is all about the zen of home chores. More on that later.

Back to the cake.

I saw the recipe in the New York Times a few days ago and it looked amazing. It was! It is a cross between a pound cake and a coffee cake.

First, you make the filling.. which is a mix of chopped pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Then you make the cake batter (an ordinary bunch of ingredients: flour, soda, powder, salt, butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, rather fussily assembled). Layer them in a bundt pan and bake. Top with a glaze of powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.

Here’s the first cake layer:

Followed by the pecan layer:

You cover that with the second cake layer and bake for a little over an hour:

And after about ten minutes, you upend the pan and voila…. a nice pound cake with pecan-sugar-cinnamon middle:

Then, after it’s fully cooled, you drizzle the glaze.

That’s a bit of a mess, but holy cow it was great!

This is Jim talking to the kiddo who made him a dad for life! Oh how we love our son!

And because I love pictures of Jim and Peter… here are a few (just a few of so so SO many that I love) that jumped to the top of the pile….

I posted a lot of pictures and commentary already from the week-ish I just spent with Judy in Dillon Beach. But I wanted to post a few more photos also taken that week, both before Judy arrived, as well some taken in Dillon (or environs) of things that I want to remember… so here goes:

First off, in preparation for our road trip, I got the car washed. Not normally a big deal, but since our Davis car wash was closed (it was a Monday), I tried a new place — Five Star Car Wash. And wowie… that was quite a car wash.

You remain in your car for the first part, then at the end, you give it up to a crew that goes to work on every nook and cranny. I must say that I was pretty proud of my clean wheels when, a couple days into our trip, we had to stop in Pt. Reyes Station to fix a nail-induced leak!

This is what the sky looked like as I drove to the airport to fetch Judy on Monday (June 12):

Judy and I stopped in Petaluma on our way to Dillon. We met Jim, a friend of Judy’s for decades and a long time work colleague. Super warm, delightful guy. Great lunch at Cafe Paradiso.

We ate dinner that night at Nick’s Cove.. another great dining choice and a potential place to stay, too! They have cottages on the water (literally).

I took lots of pictures of spring flora.. it was a stunning time to be hiking on the coast. Here’s one I don’t think I’ve posted yet.. not sure what it is.

And finally, a couple shots of Camp David, the Airbnb we stayed at on Ocean St. Will be happy to stay there again.

Before we departed Dillon, we took a 3.5-ish mile walk to Lawson’s Landing (and back on the beach), which was a nice way to start a day! After clearing out of our place, we took a very backroads route to Napa Valley, stopping at a cool cemetery at the junction of the Petaluma-Tomales Rd and the Petaluma-Bodega Rd. We had lunch at Mustard’s Grill, yum yum, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary, then curved back and forth (and back and forth) over the Berryessa hills (and past the glory hole). Finally arrived back to Davis late this afternoon. Got Judy to the airport and, whew, a great [near]week in the bag!

The best from today:

Just a guy on the beach…

One of the older headstones…

A good lunch at Mustard’s Grill.. and really, just over the hill from us…

The glory hole. It was fantastic to see so much water in Berryessa! Not glory hole level, but reasonably full and happy!

I do have to say… it’s weird to be in Dillon Beach, hiking places Jim and I have hiked, wandering the streets of the village (so-called)…. but no Jim. I am having a great time.. but I actually miss JIM.

Well.

It would be weirder if Judy and I were staying at Full Circle! The fact we’re staying in a different place (Camp David, this place is called), makes it like a different vacation. I like this house a lot, though, and can see returning. No view, no hot tub, lots of up/down the stairs, and not nearly as fancy. But it’s less than half the price and is a solid A in terms of comfort and amenities… and cleanliness.

Anyway.. we had a slow morning, got out about 11:30 and headed up the BIG, STEEP hill in the fancy part of DB. It’s .6 mile (or so) to the top, takes about 15 minutes to grunt your way up to the top (which is about 400-500 feet of elevation gain, said my watch). Then about another 1/3 to 1/2 mile you cross through the barbed-wire gate (it’s allowed) and you’re off!

Some pics:

After about 2/3 of a mile, you get to this beach..

To get to the beach, you have to descend this gnarly trail.. it’s fine, but hard-pan, narrow and very slippy..

I got to the bottom before I realized Judy was having some issues (I took the one above..and you can see Judy mid-way down). We should have had poles! She and Jon are hiking in the Dolomites in a couple months — and have been rigorously training for it — and she can’t afford to have any injury get in the way. She returned to the top while I explored the beach a bit. She got this picture of me .. I’m the speck!

It was very pretty down on the beach…

Then we headed back. I was behind Judy a lot this morning on the up-hills. She is speedy and fit!

Lunch was a nice break! Good views, good eats and beautiful (if 60 degrees!) sunshine.

After returning home, we hung out on the balcony, dozed, appetizered, they headed to the little restaurant adjacent to the General Store. Decent restaurant, not earth shattering.

Another lovely day!

Judy and I had another great day on the coast, today hiking to the very end of the Pt. Reyes National Seashore. See that dot? That is us!

This is the Tomales Point trail. it’s about a 5 mile hike out to that point (10 miles round trip).

Jim and I hiked to the point either last year or the year before. It was spectacular then, it was spectacular today! It’s cool because you can look across Tomales Bay and see Dillon Beach; it’s a great perspective. You get great views of the Pacific Ocean and the bay — today along flower covered trails. Some uppy/downy, some deep sand, some elk, lotsa birds (seagulls, cormorants, crows, pelicans, smaller ones), lotsa beetles (ick), two snakes, hopefully no ticks.

Here are a whole lot of pics of flowers:

This is a view of the point from far away. We will navigate through those flowers, picking our way along paths covered in overgrown tangles of lupine, thistles, poppies and a few others.

Here are a bunch of fauna… zoom in on the male elk… those racks!

Here we are at the point… so dramatic!

This is the pile of sand I poured out of my boots after we’d passed the worst of the deep sand ..

Got home, got cleaned up (big job!) and had this for dinner… SO GOOD!

Judy and I hit the road today. First stop, lunch with Judy’s a former colleague and friend who is a 4th or 5th generation Petaluman. After a great lunch downtown (Cucina Paradiso), we drove out to his house — a property outside of Petaluma, smothered in flowers with views of multiple counties (on a clear day). I actually think he said seven counties (!) but maybe it was four. Terribly nice man with lots of interesting stories.

Then a gorgeous drive to beach (one of my all time favorite roads). We got settled into “Camp David” — our home for the next three nights in Dillon Beach — then I showed Judy “the village,” walked a bit on the beach, checked out the General Store and finally headed to dinner in Marshall… a place called Nick’s Cove. Just lovely! Good chowder, good wine selection, and live music. Def worth a return trip with Jim.

A couple pics:

Experimenting with settings on my iPhone…in both these cases, I took a normal close up shot, and then took the same shot (more or less) on the portrait setting. I like them both… Guess I’ll keep experimenting.

These were shot in Central Park last Saturday morning. Not sure what that lovely red flower is, but it’s wonderful! And that poppy…. we’re at the end of poppy season (sorry Jim) and this one is just so sweet.. very tiny, very lost in the jumble of other flowers coming into their own. 🙂

Ya gotcher strawberries, zucchini, garlic, red onions, cherry tomatoes and … mystery blob.

Let the wild summer rumpus start!