Life of Wry

Peter had just turned 12. He wanted a High Rise Hotel Birthday in a Big City. So… we made that happen.

We reserved two rooms in San Francisco for a Saturday night, one room for Peter and his friends, and one room for us. He invited Jack, Eli and Jacob.

We drove down to the City and did city stuff… like walked across the Golden Gate Bridge…

Then went down to look under the bridge…

and explore Fort Point…

Then it was over to Ghirardelli Square to see chocolate being made and eat some chocolate sundaes….

We then checked into the hotel (can’t quite remember which one it was, but it was a high rise in the Union Square area) and ordered room service pizza and watched movies. At this point, Eli joined us…

I’d ordered a birthday cake from a local bakery …

And check out the design!

The next day, we had breakfast in the hotel, then packed a lunch and picnicked on Treasure Island with a great view of the City..

Happy 12th Birthday, Peter Frame.

I am often singing the praises of Heather Cox Richardson and her fact-packed, historically rich daily news summaries that have been on my essential-reading list since about 2017. Thank you Heather.

I feel like I may also have written about — but it’s worth mentioning again — another guy, Matt from Seattle, who also pens a daily news summary, this one quicker to consume and far more headline-ish, but no less essential… at least for me. His summary — What the Fuck Just Happened Today — was launched at approximately the same time as Heather’s, which coincided with the inauguration of the former so-called president, as the entire sane world was lighting its collective hair on fire and needed to hear from clear-headed folks who could bear to process and report the torrent of crazy news each day.

So.. yeah… I still follow both of these guys and truly value their summaries. Matt’s is simple… one sentence. Here’s today’s as an example.

“Day 912” refers to the number of days since Biden was inaugurated. At the emotionally-relieving end of the last nightmare-of-an-administration, Matt polled his readers about whether his WTFJHT newsletter should keep going and received a resounding yes, so he has kept going. I even chipped in some money toward his considerable effort. And enjoy the daily recap.

Crooked Media’s What a Day daily newsletter is also worth a read, though so much longer! It does win the award for best puns and deliciously drippy sarcasm and, for that reason alone, is worth subscribing to, IMHO.

The sad truth is, though, that between these great reads and the firehose of articles and opinion pieces that come from the NYT, New Yorker, Atlantic and the Washington Post, I am drowning in news. Can’t keep up with processing the emails alone. Gotta streamline. Can’t seem to. What’s a news junkie to do?

We birthday bombed Sabrina this morning. It was kinda fun to hide out on the street, out of view of the kitchen window, and mobilize our little posse for a surprise birthday strike. We came bearing a card, flowers, Upper Crust treats, fruit and an almond milk cappuccino for the birthday girl.

Turns out, she was in the shower (!) so we had to bide our time before being quietly ushered in by Bill, who was in on the surprise. Then we had to sit quietly in the dining room and wait…. and when she wandered cluelessly into the kitchen… kapow!

Mission accomplished: we came, we sang, we briefly socialized, we left. Fun! Some pics of me, Bill, Marina, Victoria and the birthdayee herself.

Spent a good part of today cramming. I, as I usually do, left myself just a few hours to read an entire book in order to be conversant during a book group discussion of said book.

Honestly. This is precisely why I have declined every invitation to join a book group. And then I acquiesced and joined this one, since it has a focus on social justice books and we make a point of choosing books written by authors across a diversity of perspectives and life experiences. It’s been going for maybe a year and a half (two years, perhaps?) and I can probably say I’ve managed to complete about half of the books. Not a great record.

Today’s was no exception… I got about a third of the way through it before 3:00pm rolled around. But wow… what a wonderful read. Hurston is an exceptionally gifted writer, very poetic. So far, most of it’s dialogue that is written in a super colloquial manner, and takes a bit of decoding, but I’m just loving it. (An example: “‘Tain’t Logan Killicks Ah wants you to have, baby, it’s protection. Ah ain’t gittin’ old, honey. Ah’m done ole. One mornin’ soon, now, de angel wid de sword is gointuh stop by here. De day and de hour is hid from me, but it won’t be long. Ah ast de Lawd when you was uh infant in mah arms to let me stay here till you got grown.”)

Here is a passage from a bit of non-dialogue that knocked my socks off. Main character, Janie, maybe 16, feels trapped in a loveless marriage and finds herself drawn to this pear tree, under which she lies for hours.

She was stretched on her back beneath the pear tree soaking in the alto chant of the visiting bees, the gold of the sun and the panting breath of the breeze when the inaudible voice of it all came to her. She saw a dust-bearing bee sink into the sanctum of a bloom; the thousand sister-calyxes arch to meet the love embrace and the ecstatic shiver of the tree from root to tiniest branch creaming in every blossom and frothing with delight. So this was a marriage! She had been summoned to behold a revelation. Then Janie felt a pain remorseless sweet that left her limp and languid. 

I hope I will find the time — soon — to finish this book. About fifty books wait in the wings.

You think I’m kidding?

This does not include the piles on the coffee table and a few end tables.

Acquiring books is a wee sickness of mine. It’d be okay if I read them…

As we prepare for our 24th annual trip to Yosemite in two weeks — this year Peter’s bringing Maya — I thought I’d do a little throwback Monday and post a few Peter hiking pictures from the earliest year I have digital photos: 2001. Peter is three years old. (Note: Our first family Yosemite year was 2000, but I’d have to scan non-digital photos from that year, so instead I’ll just throwback to July 2001. I should also note that Peter’s first Sierra trip was to Echo Lake in 1998 at eight weeks old.)

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This was a July 2001 trip to the Sawtooths in Northern Idaho, part of a family reunion trip. At three, he was a part time hiker, part time rider.

This (I believe) was on the Pacific Crest Trail as it passes though the Echo Lake area. We’d been at Susan and Jim’s cabin on the upper lake for a few days, an annual tradition that is no longer.. but we completely loved it back in those days. The bodies of Rick, Linda, Heidi and Jim can probably be seen in some of these photos. Also from July 2001.

Sometimes, a kid’s gotta ride.

These are also from July 2001, and may be from Yosemite ..

Another in the series of Jim and Peter caught in the act of eating… Jim says I’m always taking unflattering photos of them with food in their mouths…

This was Redfish Lake in Idaho, in the Sawtooth National Forest, on that Frame family reunion trip… Our approach to introducing Peter to the mountains, and to hopefully nurturing a love for hiking, was to always make it fun.

Dating all the way back to 1978…. Katie and I met in the Exercise Physiology program at UCD* We became fast friends, even as our UCD time together was limited to about a year.. (maybe two?). She called me Pedrohijo**, probably my most favorite nickname ever. (Well… it may be a tie with Jim’s Kari-Wary, and coach Bixler’s Pete.) With the exception of about a 3-hr visit in 2009 — when Peter and I stopped in while on an 8-Western States road trip — we hadn’t seen each other in 43 years.

That’s just crazy.

Katie is a ball of fire, always up for an adventure (literally) and quick with a laugh. She cooks, she gardens, she DJ’s eclectic radio shows, AND she swims, hikes, bikes, skis, paddle boards, canoes and no doubt a dozen more such outdoorsy things. She does all of those things well. She’s got a gorgeous sense of style, has traveled all around the globe, and lives at the top of a mountain with a spectacular view of Missoula and the valley it sits in. She has an incredibly positive outlook on life, a can-do ethic, and just a soaring spirit.

I mean.

We dig each other. And both seemed pretty darn happy to reconnect. Holiday cards and the occasional letter are great, but nothing like an in-person meet up. Twenty hours, however, is too short a visit.

We both hope that maybe there will be some shared adventures down the road.

Here we are on a trip around the arboretum this morning, early enough to avoid the worst of today’s 106 degree heat.

Cute, no? Two 67-year old PE majors still kickin’ it (or trying to). Smile.

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(*) Yes, I chose to transfer UC Davis in the winter of 1978 after three years at UC San Diego (including a year abroad and a quarter off) because of UCD’s excellent program in exercise physiology. But, I didn’t get that BS degree in exercise physiology. I am guessing (because I can’t remember exactly the circumstances 40+ years later) that, after nearly five years (four years and two quarters, to be exact), I was ready to graduate and, since I’d started the program in my senior year, I didn’t have enough of the classes required for the ex.phys. major, but had satisfied the requirements for the physical education major and that must have seemed good enough. So a BA in PE it was, and I graduated in June of 1979.

(**) En Espanol: Pedro = Peter and hijo = son. Pedrohijo = Peterson. Ay Carumba!

What is it about this picture? I just find it so incredibly soothing, mesmerizing, appealing. I think it’s the colors, especially that verdigris/patina thing going on in the foreground and the golden glow on the water in the left-distance.

It’s a photo posted recently by Heather Cox Richardson, historian and author of the daily, “Letters From an American,” a commentary/analysis of the times we are in, through an historian’s lens. Typically she posts a photo on the one day of the week she takes off, usually a Sunday, and it’s usually a shot of coastal Maine, where she lives with her photographer/lobster fisherman husband. This one, however, is by a guy named Peter Ralston (who takes amazing photos, google him). To me, it’s exquisite.

We’re in our second > 100 heat wave. Should last a few more days. Could be worse, we could be in Phoenix (like, a month of temps over 110), or Death Valley (could hit 130 this weekend). I mean…

I was able to hang out on the patio for a few hours this morning (yes, a few hours!) before it got too unbearable. Which, have I said how much I love hanging out on our beautiful patio?? A lot.

Rest of day inside, however. It’s nice in here. No A/C yet… (5:13pm as of this writing). Good job Jim keeping our house cool.

So… here’s a nice cheery, sunny flower, since going outside is too awful right now.

From our walk today around the creek.

I think I like the black and white. It’s in portrait setting and I focused in on a particular cluster, and this is how my camera handled it: it focused in on three clusters. Huh.

This is the same bush (though on the other side of the path), also portrait, but from a distance, and in living color..

I really liked these flowers.

And here’s a nice, shady tree canopy..

I’m pretty happy about this one… it’s a painting by Lucy, a dear friend Monica and Dror’s, whom we’ve also become friends with after so many years of birthday parties and holiday gatherings. She’s a talented artist who has worked in a variety of media. In her own words:

In the process of immersing myself in art for teaching purposes, I also began doing my own art again.  I have focused for years at a time in various media: jewelry making, acrylic painting, kiln formed glass, and encaustic collage.  Since 2020, I have been working primarily in acrylic paint, incorporating gelli prints and painted papers to add depth and textures to my work. The pandemic’s silver lining for me was more time in the studio and more time in nature.  My love of trees is lifelong, so it is my great joy to have found ways to incorporate tree imagery into my art. The trees in my work are based on specific trees that I have encountered on the paths I walk: those that catch my attention with their angles and lines and especially the shapes between the branches.

Here are some examples of her trees, excerpted from her website.

This is the one I bought at a recent exhibit of her work (in a Berkeley gallery):

And this is where it lives now…

I think it looks pretty good there! I had that spot in mind when I chose that particular painting, among so many options.