Life of Wry

Not too much writing right now, so please enjoy a couple days’ worth of photos from the arboretum.

#walkswithVicki

Persistent oak leaves.

Ducks on a sand bar.

Pair of ducks through a pair of redbuds.

Reflections on, tribute to, area native tribes

Under the bridge

Pretty, huh?

I came upon this and loved it…

Upping my game here.

I’ve been a consistent political action volunteer for a full three years now–attending weekly postcard writing gaggles; canvassing and participating in GOTV efforts around elections; text banking, phone banking; showing up for town halls, marches, rallies and celebrations; and of course giving lots of money to candidates whose elections, or reelections, would make a difference.

As I’ve said numerous times, it’s about channeling my rage into something constructive, being part of the solution… all that.

With the opening next week of the Volunteer Center (is that what we’re calling it?) — a joint effort of Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo — shit’s getting real. Realer than ever.

Just gotta say.. there are a whole bunch–like dozens and dozens–of smart, committed people in this town who know how to organize and who are consolidating their considerable energy and talents into quite a thing. We raised $25,000 in a matter of days (I say we like I had something to do with it, I didn’t, just contributed) to fund office space for the year, collected an eye-popping amount of furniture and supplies, and mobilized a veritable ant colony of happy labor that put it all together over the course of about a week. It’s a work in progress, but when you walk into the large, two-story, multi-room space and see an operation that looks like it’s been humming along for years… it’s just impressive as hell.

There’s a leadership team comprising committee heads (committees include things like post carding, phone banking, text banking, canvassing, voter registration, volunteer care & feeding, promotion and social media, center staffing, etc.).  There are meetings like crazy and all kinds of ongoing events that will take place in the center. It’ll be the hub of all election-related volunteer activity for the next year.

It’s fantastic.

There’s a kickoff rally next week at Veteran’s Memorial (after the California primary/Super Tuesday) and an official open house for the new Volunteer Center. The purpose of all of that is to energize, recruit and mobilize hundreds of new volunteers for the coming year. And we have the wherewithal to handle that, what with all that amazing infrastructure.

That amazing infrastructure’s been taking shape for three years, but as I said above, shit’s now getting real, and the game’s been upped significantly. MY game’s been upped significantly.

I just Sign-Up Genius’d and/or blocked out dates in my calendar for regular stints of voter registration, post carding, volunteer center staff shifts, trips to Arizona and leadership meetings. That’s some serious time commitment and is only the basic stuff. I imagine I’ll add countless other meetings and activities as the year unfolds.

I did some home office organizing this evening as I prepare myself to integrate this stuff into my days/weeks/months.

And I’m a small cog! There are too-many-to-count folks who are doing far, far more.

Anyway.

Today was a trip down to Modesto Junior College for more voter reg. The pic is today’s group. It was a good day.

Note: Related, I watched the democratic debate tonight. Good lord. The field’s narrowed to Sanders, Buttigieg, Warren, Biden, Klobachar, Stuyer and Bloomberg, in about that order, and we are nowhere near a nominee. Sanders is well ahead, but it’s too early to know where this is going. After tonight, I just don’t know. It was painful to watch. And that’s why we do this (the above). Distracting and sanity saving.

I’m in love with this picture.

Peter and Jocelyn, a long time ago…

Peter’s now a senior at UCSD, majoring in physics, making a decision on where to go to grad school next year.  Jocelyn is a junior at Oberlin College, contemplating public interest law as a career.

Who could have imagined that.. when these two were romping through this San Francisco field?

No question, Jim’s a Spring guy. He marks its coming each year by the budding and blooming of a particular tree in the alley between B St and University Ave.

So, drum roll… for what it’s worth… here is this year’s budding-tree-in-the-alley progression:

February 2:

February 8:

February 10:

I was out of town for the period between February 14 and 21…

February 21 (late afternoon!):

Today, February 23:

Da dah! Spring is here.

Our house on the same (ish) day two years ago.

And today (ish):

Next year’s shot will be a wholly different deal. It’s in progress as we speak… on paper now, but a design soon to be realized. Wait’ll you see it!

The Gentlest

Wrapping up my swing through Southern California.

Spent a leisurely day at Matt and Michael’s. Read by the fire by the pool (they do that kind of thing here)…

…and ate well.  Tonight’s fish foray was to the just-opened San Pedro Fish Market (in Long Beach)..

They had a lot of bugs to work out (we were during their soft opening phase), and a lot of the meal didn’t work, but the fish was fantastic. You wandered through their fresh fish “market,” picked your fish, and they prepared it to order. They had dozens of options. I went with swordfish. Among the best I’ve ever eaten.

Now I know why they call it red snapper.

This was our dinner gang tonight. We’re displaying a Christmas gift that Matt and Michael opened tonight from Jay and Saythong, delivered (a bit late) by Chris. They are ribbons that Saythong hand made. Beautiful handiwork by a talented, artistic and thoughtful person.

Bev’s on the far right. She’ll be 90 on July 11. She’s been through a bout of nasty stuff, including cancer, shingles and a fall or two. She’s a trooper!

Just a few more of Palos Verdes and the Malaga Cove Library, and a few from my commute from PV to Long Beach. Just because.

Front door of library.

Newspaper room…

Young readers room… (the fireplace is off to my right)..

Main reading room (note arrangement of peacock feathers — iconic Palos Verdes — on the shelf)…

An upstairs reading corner…

A nice mail box across the street…

Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach…

And some palm trees, minus their tops, all filtered up…

If you ask me to conjure a perfect couple of down days, I might describe a personal little retreat in the South Bay…. was born in Manhattan Beach, raised in Palos Verdes, and covered a lot of territory in between, including Torrance, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach.  It’s a place I know well — its neighborhoods, its restaurants, shops and cafes, its roads, and most of all its AIR, its VISTAS and its SMELLS. I feel utterly at home here.

It’s funny.. I was only here (in the South Bay, where I’m presently writing and sipping coffee) for 18 years. I’ve lived elsewhere for far more of my life (like, 72% of it!) and of course home to me is with Jim, in the life we’ve built together, with a son we love more than anything on earth (quite literally), in a town we find comfort and refuge in, among our people. That’s home now. Happily and profoundly gratefully so.

But, oh, how I love my little nostalgia tours, and the speed with which I can take my corners (which I mean both literally and figuratively).

And just an aside before I dump a few photos from yesterday (and post date this entry accordingly): I’m sitting at Starbucks in Hollywood Riviera (which they now call Riviera Village). I wasn’t able to get a table inside, so plunked down at an outside table (nicer anyway). Over the past hour, a company of men (2) turned into a crowd of men (3) which has now become whatever they call 8 men (a true gaggle!). I’m now dead in the middle of them, trying not to listen to all their old man-ish conversation (which was funny, mostly).  So, I just moved over to the other side of a long bench.  Feeling a bit badly about crowding me out, one just showed me a photo of his granddaughter posing with the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Her name is Alexa. Just so you know.

~~

And, well, one more side note, before I resume blogging…    I ran out of battery power while sitting outside at Starbucks. I’ve relocated and am now sitting in the Malaga Cove Library. Eeeeeeeyup… the Malaga Cover Library. I do not think I’ve walked through the main door here in 50 years! Several years ago, my graduating class at PVHS had its 45th reunion here, but it was in a downstairs community room, accessed through a totally different door on Via Campesina (fun fact for PV-ites, I think the library sits at the very spot where Via Campesina morphs into Via Del Monte).

Anyway, I parked on Campesina, easily I might add, and hiked up the stone steps, past the fountain, along the sloping green and through those familiar doors. I’m slammed with that Malaga Cove library smell (it’s fantastically rich, as you know — leather, books, old wood, old world) and greeted so sweetly by a man at the front desk. I tell him I’ve not been here in 50 years. This excites him. He gives me a brochure with a history of the library and shows me around. He clears a spot in the magazine room for me as it’s quiet, has power to the table, is well lit and comfortable…if I’m going to sit awhile to write, he says. Looks like this:

He also showed me to the bathroom, because, wow, service is great here. (It’s a great bathroom.)

Around the corner is a lovely hallway with large windows looking out onto a stone patio garden with begonias and blooming tulip trees. The hallway is lined with mission-style leather chairs (they all look like our just purchased Morris chair). I’d take a picture except there are men sitting in most of those chairs reading newspapers, looking very at home and like they’ll be there awhile…

The brochure says the Palos Verdes Library and Art Gallery was opened to the public on June 3, 1930. It was designed by architect Myron Hunt and is one of the oldest buildings on the peninsula. It’s situated on a 5-level, sloping lot surrounded by 27 different tree and shrub specimens. Its design reflects the Mediterranean Revival style found all over the hill — stucco, red-tile roofs — with an interior of high beamed ceilings and even a fireplace in the Young Reader’s area (!). The furniture–the brochure says–has been in use since the 30s, designed as replicas of Italian Renaissance tables, chairs and couches.

So… yeah… pretty cozy hereabouts. Can I live here?

Anyway… where this post was going…   My Day in Pictures (which was actually yesterday):

My misty morning walk looked like this… slight fog just on the verge of sun:

And gave way to this by the time of my second walk:

Then to the plaza …

…where I ran into this fellow who was delighted to be asked if I could take his picture!

Had lunch here (a Chinese chicken salad.. not something I order very often):

And, after a failed nap (will I ever be able to nap?), took myself for another late afternoon –> sunset walk along the Esplanade…

Then went to dinner with Betsy at Blue Water Grill to raise my glass to mom (the glass was full of Grey Goose and three olives). Ate a hot loaf of sourdough with butter, as she woulda wanted me to. My personal indulgence was the grilled swordfish which was exceptional.

Back to my earlier comment about the ideal personal retreat… this is surely one of them.

Happy.