Life of Wry

How about some PV –> LAX –> Sac –> Davis commuter shots?

Southern California has some interesting places, architecturally speaking. As seen in the South Bay, on my way to the airport:

This is in Hollywood Riviera, along PCH…

This is deeper into Redondo Beach, along PCH…

This was a billboard just beyond the airport, on my way to Alamo to turn in my car…

The cows were in relief.

Now… I’m in the air. Here is a nice shot of Catalina, just beyond the Palos Verdes peninsula (about twenty six miles beyond)…

And my favorite kinda shots flying into Sac.. all filtered up…

The next two are interesting because I inadvertently shot a near-replica of the Phil Gross painting hanging in our living room:

I just love these.

And, back on the ground, Fall has arrived to the Sac airport.. the grounds are so beautiful…

Arriving home to a favorite sight.. the view as we back into the driveway.. the lighting was so pretty on dad’s bench…

~~

So… something new happened on this flight. My suitcase arrived to the carousel with a huge crack in it.

I asked an airport employee if I had any recourse for this and she said “absolutely” and pointed me to the customer service folks. Within about ten minutes, my case had been heard, a report filed, my suitcase emptied and I was sent on my way with all my belongings in a plastic bag. They will send, at no charge to me, a replacement suitcase–my exact Eagle Creek–to the house; should arrive in a few weeks. And that was that.

Here’s the ever gallant Jim, hauling my bag into the house:

Funny, huh? Plastic bags are quite inelegant, suitcases far more efficient!

~~

I handled all of this in stride (who wouldn’t? it was such great service) in part because I’d finally, after years of seeing these airport massage places, had an airport massage! It was an incredibly relaxing experience.  I’d arrived a bit early so had time for a head massage, a light late lunch at the Rock ‘n Brew, and was just as mellow as could be by the time I boarded the plane.

This is be relax:

I sat in a big reclining chair that had moving rollers beneath the surface, and also had these sort of boots into which you placed your feet for the best mechanical foot and leg massage I’ve ever had. I’d go back for that alone. I’d also go back for the head/neck massage.

Lordy.

These be relax places exist in selected airports all over the world (not all, but a few that I might use).

And I now have a club membership (free). I may or may not do it again, but it sure got rid of my headache.

I dare say, mom’s feeling a little bit better. As the week went on, her energy grew. By Friday, she was up for a breakfast out…

This is the Pancake House (not to be confused with the House of Pancakes), one of our favorite places.

Then some shopping…

(That would be mom, peering out from the dressing room, where she was trying on all kinds of tops in a cute boutique in the Riviera Village — formerly and forever known as Hollywood Riviera.)

Then, after a few more errands, a quick beach drive-by:

I can never resist these beach shots. Noteworthy on this day: the crystal clear outline of Pt. Dume (the prominent point north of Malibu) and the whole northern boundary of the Santa Monica Bay. It had rained in the morning and all was clear in the LA basin.

We returned home and continued our marathon of gin rummy (natch, as Grandma Celia used to say) and then had evening visits from Chris and Betsy, rounding out an outstanding day.

I know she’ll have good days and bad days, but the last three have certainly been a good trend.

Got another great haircut from Claes the Swedish hair stylist today. That alone was enough to make the day great, but there was more.

We went to Matt’s and Michael’s for lunch.. always a treat. It was also a big deal because it was the longest trip mom had taken since her extra long hospitalization a couple of months ago.

Matt and Mike remodeled their kitchen, so that was the first thing we looked at:

The dogs gave us a big welcome:

(omg)

We had tuna sandwiches, potato salad, chips and fancy iced teas:

As a bonus, Aunt Joy called while we were sitting at the table, so we got to have a nice conversation with her, and she with four of us! (Michael joined us after this photo was taken).

The other new addition to the house (there is always something), was the bear…

Michael’s got a fascination for taxidermy. The bear joins a tiger, a giant peacock, numerous raptors… all in the bedroom. Downstairs in the office/den, dozens of heads, antlers and other things are on display:

Wouldn’t be my choice of decor, but it’s very interesting.

Michael’s handiwork was also evidenced in the Halloween costume category:

Here, he’s showing mom part of the Day of the Dead ensemble…

.. and here’s River’s porcupine/hedgehog jumpsuit that John picked up while we were there…

Those guys… never a shortage of things going on over there.

On the way home, mom and I swung through the Park Estates neighborhood where  Grandma and Grandpa lived, and the house where we spent so much time:

Classic 50s-60s architecture. The pepper trees have gotten so gnarly!

We also dropped by Joe Jost’s for some pickled eggs:

They aren’t $.75 anymore…

Joe Jost has been a Long Beach institution on Anaheim Street since 1924.

It was another worthwhile nostalgia tour!

The beach played only a small role in our day. Even so, I give the day an A rating. I’d have given it an A+ if I hadn’t screwed up the butternut squash and apple dish I made.

What made it good? Mom had high energy and a great attitude. We had a good outing of errands and had fun decorating the house a little for halloween (just a little).  We enjoyed the World Series (Cubs won 5-1), watched a Coen brothers movie (Raising Arizona), played tons of gin rummy, and she told me some stories I hadn’t heard… some sad, some great (I’m writing them down, don’t worry). And as a bonus, no kerfuffles with Eppie. I was a rock star daughter, and that feels good.

Will shoot for an A tomorrow, too.

It was a weak day for mom today. It happens. It’s unpredictable… some days, she’s energetic and some days not so much. Mostly, then, we sat and played gin rummy… which is always pleasant. CNN’s muted in the background and if a headline looks like it might signal a new story line.. we might turn on the volume… but mostly we sit and play cards..

Cabin fever lead to a late afternoon gotta get outa here walk. With mom in a wheelchair, that’s a pretty easy outing!

We headed down the street.. two blocks away to our first house on La Selva:

That is a lot of nostalgia there. We lived in that house–we, being mom, dad, Jay and I–from 1957 to 1959. Jay’s the only one of us born in this one.. Chris and Matt came along after we’d moved up the street. I started life on earth in the Manhattan Beach cottage.

Anyway. Nostalgia. She shared a lot of stories about the neighbors. I think my favorite story was the one when she had the Schooks and Osbornes over for dinner and served bread and cioppino. She’d made the sourdough bread from scratch, which took a couple of days, and purchased her shellfish from a vendor on the Redondo Beach pier just hours before so it’d be as fresh as possible. She said it was the best meal she’s ever made (of many, I must say). She said the bread went instantly–which, of course, is a compliment, but kind of anticlimactic… you’d rather people savor and compliment you for a longer time! She also said that Irv and Ed–both employees of American Airlines, which is why she paired these particular couples–hated each other and found the evening very unpleasant… which took all the attention off the food, which was not so gratifying for her either.. after all the work.  Hrrumph. But it was still a good story.

One of the Schook girls, legendarily, was quite taken with the size of my dad’s toes… which has always been a good family story. So we laughed about that one, too.

The walk was good.

Matty, Michael and Chris came over for dinner. Matt made pasta with bolognese sauce (of a sort), which was excellent. Also, sauteed zucchini (with heaps of butter and herbs), hot bread, and rocky road bars that Michael made (sinful).

Here we are:

Very nice evening. Appreciating my brothers immensely.

~~

Hoping to remember: Michael, who makes elaborate, themed customs for himself, Matt and always a big group of friends each year for the West Hollywood Halloween Parade, has the idea that the Halloween 2017 theme shall be Cruella Deville and 101 Dalmatians… in which, he’ll invite as huge an entourage as possible, up to 101 of their closest friends/family/pets, who will all be dressed as Dalmatians, as he’s decked out as Cruella. Rent bus, include people of all sizes and shapes, join thousands of outlandishly costumed people on the parade route… wouldn’t that be awesome?  This year, his theme is Day of the Dead — many skeletons and such. This will probably be their 12th or 15th year… each year’s theme more remarkable than the last. Well, actually, some years are more spectacular than others, but all are fantastic, creative and beautifully carried out.

… darling boy.

Peter thought lunch with me would be nice before I take off, which so thrilled me (which I was careful not to overreact about). He had classes at 8:00, 9:00 and 10:00, so he went to those, but texted as soon as he was done. In the meantime, I checked out of the Sheraton and plunked at a nearby Starbucks to write and be all mellow and happy.

I picked him up at our usual spot–parking lot behind Meteor–and headed to a place called Urban Plates.

An absolutely great place.. a high-end cafeteria with healthy, organic, creative choices:

And a huge, attractive, comfortable place to eat it…

We had a nice, long lunch, discussed holiday logistics, then checked out a nearby bike store. I dropped him off back on campus in time for his 1:00 class.

And with that, Family Weekend was over.

A month now until our next meet up…

Look who was playing golf at Torrey Pines the day after our visit…

That would be our great, classy, dignified, decent, funny, intelligent, compassionate president, Barack Obama.

Dyin’ to know what he shot…

(This was a random photo grab off the web… credit to somebody for a nice shot.)

So looking forward to this day… a full, planless, unencumbered Sunday with our kiddo, and a big old town to explore.

Picked Peter up at 9:00am..

Hiya P.

Then off to Torrey Pines–reservations for breakfast at 9:30.

In search of great corned beef hash… the current hash to beat is the one I got at that pancake restaurant in La Jolla on a previous visit.

Good, nice presentation, but not even close. The large chunks were great, but too much room for error (hunks of fat).

After days of hot weather, it was weird to get some raindrops, but we decided to stick with our outside table. We sat beneath a heater so it was very warm. We saw they provided blankets for diners who wanted them, but it wasn’t cold. And the rain didn’t really materialize. Very nice view of the first tee!

We walked around.. checked out the now finished course construction on the north course.

Here’s a before and after:

It’s a pretty course…

Peter decided it was a good time to take advantage of his parents being in town–sure there were a few clothing items he needed–so we went to that UTC place again. Sears was a nice low-cost option and Macy’s a good middle-of-the-road option. He scored some pants and shorts.

Walked around to see what all’s there… went into a Tessla showroom (and sat in a very nice car), and found an ice rink:

Then….. we then headed up to Mt. Soledad…

for some views…

They have hundreds and hundreds of memorial plaques on the walls that surround the monument:

This one was interesting to me:

Grew up playing at the Jack Kramer Tennis Club and played with Wilson’s Jack Kramer autograph racquet for most of my youth. Who knew he was an honored veteran?

Next… we headed down to Coronado.. wanted to show Jim the Hotel Del. Here are a couple pics around the island…

This is on the side that faces downtown San Diego; there were some lovely homes along the waterfront:

Here’s a shot of a nice sunset over on the Hotel Del side:

We decided on fish for dinner… looked at one, which was a no go, then settled on a restaurant called “The Oceanaire,” in the Gaslamp district. Very expensive and spotty service (but at least I got my wine comped). We had two hours, but in the end were rushed, even without dessert.  I think the place has promise, but we didn’t hit it on their best night (‘course maybe that’s because we were in tee-shirts and jeans and stumbled onto the place, whereas the other customers were dressed to the nines and prepared for dining events). Dunno.

Still… good food. I had grilled swordfish “drunken” with port cherries, smokey almonds and goat cheese cream. Jim had salmon with blue cheese, I think and Peter has sea bass with a spicy tumble of crab on top. We added an order of asparagus and au gratin potatoes. Yummy. (And, oh… $200… no apps, no dessert, no alcohol.)

We got Jim to the airport on time and I took Peter back to his dorm because he wanted to study. How ’bout that. Good kid, starting out college on a serious note. I like it.

Beautiful day in the way-southland. I think they forecast another day of 90s.

We chose a place in Del Mar for breakfast … a wonderful outdoor-only place called the Stratford Court Cafe–seems you can have those kind of places down here:

And yet another great vanilla-ish smoothie-like drink … this one: orange juice and vanilla powder. Jim had a Belgian waffle, I had a veggie scramble with a mountain of arugula and avocado… Mmmmm…

Eating fresh organic, outside in late October. Love California.

And for a bit of gravy: baseball!

We were lucky to be in town for a club baseball double header: UCSD Tritons v. USC Trojans. We headed over for the start of the 10:00 game…which we missed while searching for the field, but arrived in time to see Bobby at the plate in the bottom of the first.

Not too far from UCSD is University City High School. This is often where the club team hosts its home games. Nice field with shadeless bleachers.

Club ball is very low key.. it’s about fun and camaraderie, playing a sport you love. They self coach and self manage. They also provide and launder jerseys (not sure who does that), and provide most of the equipment (including helmets, bats). Players provide their own pants, belts, socks, cleats, gloves.. of course.

It’s official, too. They have umps, a league, league standings, titles, tournaments they travel to and hope to win (for example, the team traveled to Las Vegas last weekend and narrowly lost in the championship game), and big fancy things like world series (if they win their league and prevail in a series of post season tournaments). So, mostly it’s fun, but they also want to win.

It was incredibly fun, and such a bonus buy, to see Peter on the mound today. And Bobby, who played for DHS before Peter came along, and Ray.  And, AND, it was fun to play against Nate whom Peter & Ray played with in their junior year, who now plays for USC.

Look how pleased we are to be at yet another Peter baseball game:

We sat in the bleachers with parents of another freshman, Kyle T, who’s from San Mateo. Got some good info about the team, dorm life and what the first quarter at UCSD feels like from another’s perspective. Nice folks.

Peter started the second game of the double header:

He has such a distinctive style… it was fun to see that signature wind up..

Lead off batter for USC in the second game was none other than Nate. I think Peter went about 2-2 in the count before grazing him slightly on the elbow:

All pitchers today went a max of two innings. Peter pitched well enough. The Tritons won both games, 6-0 and 5-0. Good for them.

Afterward, the four former DHS varsity players posed together… Classes of 2013, 2015 and 2016…

Peter stayed to work on the field, Jim and I headed out for some drinks. Decided to check out the UTC — University Town Center — a very upscale outdoor shopping mall that we’d heard about, just across the freeway from UCSD.

After a while, we got a call from Peter who’d gone home and showered and was now ready for dinner.  We picked him up at his dorm…

…and he even let me come inside (no pics). It was interesting… cramped, messy but not horrible. They have a lot of stuff. The mini-fridge is great and very appreciated.

For dinner, Peter picked an Italian restaurant in Little Italy: Mimmo’s. Great ambiance, good service and our dinners were all excellent. My guys:

Walked around a bit after dinner..

I liked this apartment building. Little Italy’s about two blocks up from the water, great location in downtown San Diego.

There was a Lamborghini show in the street. Peter and Jim checking each one out..

Then… something bizarre… we found a new concept in desserts: iDessert…

… where you construct your own dessert via a bank of iPads set up along a long counter. Here is Peter through the window making his selections:

This guy, Jean-Philippe has come up with this unique dessert concoction and figured out how to make the entire selection process so gimmicky you want to try it. You first choose an outer meringue layer from a lengthy menu of options. Then, page by page, you customize your dessert by making similar selections in a range of categories: flavored creams, gelato flavors, sauces, cake types, crunchy toppings, fruit layers, etc.  You fill your entire order this way and then pay online. When they call your name, you retrieve your masterpieces:

Those are the upside down meringue shells, on top of all that other stuff . Jim’s is mint something, Peter’s mocha something, and mine is vanilla and coconut-themed. They were good… but a little contrived, if you ask me. Not sure we’ll go back, but interesting to try.

And that was that day. Again, mostly just a treasure to spend it with the kiddo.

The day didn’t start out well. Well, actually, it did (in my view), then it went south, but then it came back.

The rough start had to do with the travel anxieties that typically characterize our departures, particularly those that involve planes. The short of it: Jim and I have different time sensibilities. It’s gotten to a point where even if I’m on time, it’s not on time enough, probably because of past infractions. He starts with the assumption that I’m going to be late. I am a victim of the late label, slapped on way back when. I’m late before I’m even late. And it’s quite a hole to climb out of.

We, of course, have different definitions of late: mine is a tad relaxed, based on standard societal conventions (a few-minute window on either side is reasonable and acceptable); his is rigid. It’s become even more rigid, I believe, as a result of past travel wounds. The truth is, I’m late before I even start getting ready. I’m already late the night before, as we negotiate alarm times. He’s already girding for my lateness.

The irony is, I’m not a crazy late person. Not even close. I’m within the totally normal part of the bell curve. If anything, and I’m serious here, I’m on the slightly obsessively punctual side. It’s just–and this is a reality that runs through all my dealings with Jim–I’m on the late side of Jim.  Not normal people. Jim.

But this time, I wasn’t late. I hit it right on. He wanted us in the driveway at 5:30. I was walking down the hall at 5:29. He seemed cold and stiff. Which I thought was odd, but I didn’t react. I was pleased with my effort.

Then, as we’re moving out the door and into the driveway, he says: We’re late.

I protest. He stands firm.

I tried to make my case. In addition to hitting–even bettering–my acceptable window of timeliness, I also think I should get credit for 1) trying super hard (he had no idea how close I’d come to actually missing my mark), and 2) having to overcome greater packing challenges (always the case).

But it fell on deaf ears and that stone cold Frame facial expression. In his mind, we weren’t in the driveway at 5:30. What more need be said?

Let the record show,  I was sitting in the car ready to go at 5:34 (a huge steamy black cloud over my head, and defensive expletives flying).

We rode in silence to the airport. I maintained a sizable contact-free zone. I sat separately on the parking shuttle bus. At the airport, we mechanically went through all the check in procedures, avoiding eye contact. We were offered seats on an earlier flight (we were there so early). I got TSA-pre and he didn’t and had to wait in a long and winding line, so we showed up to the gate at different times. We were the last seated. We sat in silence.

At some point on the flight, I broke through with something like “I don’t want to be mad.”  We talked, we softened, we reasoned our ways to a better place. And, finally, we shifted our focus to the happy reason for our trip: PETER.

Let the wonderful visit begin.

~~

Due to our very early departure, we arrived to see the sun shining through skywalk windows:

Peter had classes (which we knew), so we went to breakfast. Drove a mile and half up the hill from the airport to the Hillcrest neighborhood and had breakfast at Crest Cafe… that wonderful diner Peter and I found last time:

Yum yum. Loved it.

We were able to check in early, so did that, then headed over to campus, found the Hopkins parking structure, did that, then wandered around. Nice. Still feeling nostalgic about it. Still. I’m keep shaking my head that we ended up here… in the same place I went to school. Still amazed at how much I recognize, as well as how much has changed.

Anyway.

Ended up at Muir for iced tea, a vanillacano and a nice break. Sat here on this very cool bench/art installation and watched students come and go:

Turns out, we missed Peter and Ray by minutes; they’d finished lunch in the Muir dining hall just before we arrived. Unplanned, but wouldn’t that have been fun to run into them…

Jim did run into another fellow–the same one who, weeks ago at the Revelle orientation, had complimented him on his hat. He was sitting in the same plaza area today and when he saw Jim’s hat, came over to say hi. So funny. Like an old friend.

We explored a while longer, then went back to the hotel to wait for Peter to be done with classes. The plan was to meet Wes, Bobby and Ray for an early dinner. We ended up registering for the Parents Weekend and then meeting up with Wes and Ray at the Price Center to just hang out for a while. Very nice to meet up!

Oddly, coincidentally, it turned out Max from the DHS baseball team was on campus with his family touring UCSD as a prospective school to attend next year (unrelated to Family Weekend), texted Ray/Peter, and were just around the corner. We met up with them:

Honestly.

We meandered through Warren College… so pretty. This part of campus did not exist when I was there. This is the engineering building with the house on top:

Here are Ray, Peter, Wes and Jim…

Met Bobby at Rock Bottom, a brew pub down the hill from our hotel, right across from campus… great to talk with all three about school, classes, baseball, future plans…then Wes grabbed an Uber and headed to the airport… proud dad:

Peter, Jim and I had tickets to see a comedy show.. a comedian/magician who definitely had some very funny moments:

I completely enjoyed him, as well as the other two, though less polished.

Took Peter back and that was our first full day.

It’s normal, comfortable, and yet it’s different. It’s weird to say goodnight and drop him off in a dorm parking lot. But it’s also good to see he’s finding his way and fitting into his new place. Couldn’t have imagined quite what that would be a year ago.. but it’s this. It was an abstract concept then, now it’s not abstract. And it all seems just totally good.