Time for the Brazilians to Go Home
December 1, 2025
That is a Frame family saying and harks back to a time long ago when the two Piedmont Frame families (two sets of parents and eight kids) hosted a steady stream of family visitors from Brazil (where Jim’s mom and aunt were from). There would come a point in a visit when the kids were done with family, done with Portuguese, done with having to be on best behavior.. and would implore their parents to clear the house of Brazilians.
Jim and I use that phrase a lot .. like at the end of a marathon holiday gathering (for example). It’s great to have family around; it’s great when they all go home.
The last of our TG guests left today:
And then Jim got to making turkey/ham soup.
And with that, Thanksgiving 2025 is a wrap.
Last Day of Hanging Out
November 30, 2025
I know… just a few more Thanksgiving week pics. These are on the last day of hanging out and kind of define the week. It was incredibly cold, grey and gloomy, buried as we were under tule fog for 7-8 straight days. We spent a LOT of time in the living room with the fire going.
We ate out more than I thought we needed to (having a huge supply of leftovers), but I was content not to pull dinners together and clean up afterward! Tonight, Sunday, we ate at Janet’s.. that was a nice change of venue. (We also ate at Burma twice, Mikuni’s, Burgers and Brew, and Bernardo.. hit all the Davis haunts over the course of a week).
We set up a Chihuly jigsaw puzzle.. which proved to be tedious and difficult.. not sure I’ll finish it, but here’s Betsy’s and my start on the thing:
Gin
November 29, 2025
Matt treated us to some gin cocktail concoctions throughout the week (I opted for vodka), but this gin is about the cards. Which we played a lot of.
Nothing says downtime like gin rummy.
Envased Climbing Roses
September 8, 2025
I’m very happy about the two climbing yellow rose vines we planted 6 years ago (or so). They are incredibly prolific and add the perkiest of views from our living room (if one cranks their head sufficiently to the right when checking out our backyard through the large french doors in the “annex”).
I don’t do it often enough, but when I do go out and cut a few stems, they make such a nice bouquet for the table… no? Perfect when placed in that elegant Baccarat vase Sally gave me last spring, for no apparent reason. (She said it was for anything bad she ever did to me over our 62-year friendship.)
I picked these a few days ago, and as I look at the arrangement tonight, the two buds are now full-aflower. It’s so happy looking.
Food Porn
July 19, 2025
From blistered shishito peppers and rosemary cashews washed down with a French 75, to a perfect, summery peach crisp with whipped cream, we ate well at chez Sarah&Gabe tonight. In between appetizers and dessert, we had…
…. a refreshingly fresh gazpacho with basil/goat cheese “ice cream” (this picture was taken before the basil leaf garnish was added) …
…. shrimp sauteed in olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes.. and other seasonings I imagine, but didn’t see …
… mushrooms that were sauteed in a vinaigrette (whose ingredients I missed), then impaled on a skewer in descending size order and mounted on a cube of french bread (the Spanish way). The master at work…
… we also had a traditional Spanish tortilla española with a deeply flavorful tomato sauce ….
Here’s the spread:
…beneath the trees…
All in all, a luscious meal, in a relaxed setting, with lively conversation, on a warm summer night in the California foothills.
Thanks Maribel!
June 28, 2025
I feel all Sunset Magazine-y.
Picture this: smiling people, casually standing around a kitchen island, drinking cocktails and wine and laughing, eating gorgeous looking appetizers, while the host puts the final touches on dinner.. music playing (though not too loudly, in deference to Jim who believes people need to be able to hear one another… lol).
Backstory: tonight it was our turn to host what is becoming a nice dinner eightsome — Carrie & Marc, Joe & Janet, Pam & Bill and Jim & me. Since Jim and I had just returned from Spain, France and Portugal, we decided to cook some somethings from said countries. As we’d had such a fantastic culinary experience at the Terra Hotel in Bonansa, Spain, courtesy of proprietor and chef extraordinaire Maribel, we decided to replicate (or attempt to replicate) a couple of her dishes. We built a menu around her very picture-worthy cold squash soup and an equally picture-worthy zucchini carpaccio. I should say that when I contacted Alejandro and Maribel, Maribel was delighted to share the approximate ingredients of both of these dishes, but she generally cooks by feel and couldn’t provide the exact quantities. So we improvised as best we could! I’d taken photos when in Bonansa and, amazingly, we got very close to her presentation on both.
Rounding out the menu:
Cocktails: Joe was the cocktail meister and brought ingredients for three different concoctions reminiscent of the regions of travel… I can’t even begin to describe, but I loved the two I had!
Appetizers: I put out some Mediterranean cheeses and olives, and Carrie brought a traditional Spanish shrimp tapa. Incredible.
Soup course: Jim made Maribel’s chilled butternut squash soup w/ roasted pepitas, an edible flower, and a corn cracker.
Dinner: I made a Mediterranean-style baked salmon with tomatoes, olives, red onions, capers, lemon, garlic, herbs (it was an impressive slab-o-salmon surrounded by vibrant color) and smashed roasted tiny red and yellow potatoes. And this is where we served the zucchini carpaccio.
Dessert: Jim’s cookies (two kinds), garden strawberries, and Pam’s amazing fruit crisp w/ ice cream and sorbet.
I, myself, did not take photos during the evening.. but Pam did.. so here are some shots of tonight’s dinner party (I guess I can call it by its fancy name).
[Fun fact: Pam was actually the food editor for Sunset Magazine sometime in the 80s.]
No pic of the salmon or potatoes, but here are the ingredients I prepped earlier in the day
Joe bartending…
My favorite of my two cocktails used these ingredients:
Jim and me assembling the cold soup…
Our finished version next to Maribel’s…
Here’s a side by side of our zucchini and Maribel’s:
Not bad, huh?
And here we all are:
The one picture I took tonight…
National politics did not come up once. Now that’s a nice evening.
Pass the Biscuits
April 25, 2025
Walked with Sabrina (and baby Will) this morning, which morphed into a post-walk gathering in the backyard with Bill, Jocelyn and her sweetie Emma.. and Jocelyn’s dog Gemma (which required some concentration on my part to not mix up the names). J&E had made some biscuits, we had coffee, Jocelyn and Bill took turns feeding Will, Emma had lots of stories.. What a pleasant morning that turned out to be!
Cozed up in the stroller… (and yeah, that’s the luscious snuggly we gave him)…
Walking around College Park…
Bill and Jocelyn…
Emma and Gemma….
A Whole Slew of Celebrations
April 22, 2025
Jim and I are in Aptos at the moment — just until morning. We came down today to be part of a celebration, mostly, for Lorilyn and Allen’s 30th wedding anniversary. Also celebrated tonight were: their 70th birthdays; their transition to bi-coastal living (building a house outside Philly and keeping their place in Aptos); Quinn and Em’s engagement. All kinds of folks from various eras of their lives came from all over the place. Besides LL, Allen, Q and Em, Jim and I knew only one person. Like crashing some else’s party. But it was still fun.
There were nice touches: they started the evening in regular clothes, then at a point, disappeared and returned in their wedding attire from 30 years ago. Impressive! They showed a highlights clip from their wedding, then recreated the first dance (a Frank Sinatra number) in real time. Hilarious. There was good food and dancing and at one point an open mic for sharing. All good. All the feels!
Our 30th is coming up next year, though I don’t imagine a comparable to-do. But something! Stay tuned.
A couple pics:
Now That’s a Good Saturday
April 19, 2025
My idea of a near perfect Saturday:
I Start the day with the best workout in a loooong time. It was a great workout because this 69-year-old body was about as free of inflammation as I’ve felt in years, thanks to a 6-day course of methylprednisolone, which I took to reduce an inflamed nerve in my tooth, in preparation for yesterday’s pre-implant tooth extraction. (With me here?) The benefit of taking an oral steroid to reduce inflammation in my mouth, was the systemic effect of overall inflammation reduction.. which has resulted in astonishing mobility and flexibility and bendiness. It’s like my teenage self (only a small exaggeration). I may have reported — a couple of months ago — the effect of having taken a 5-day “prednisone burst,” prescribed by my primary to address very stubborn knee inflammation caused by last summer’s traumatizing Dolomites hike. That was a Hail Mary tactic that worked beautifully… but it was child’s play compared to the effects of this week’s steroid. So.. yeah.. started the day with fantastic stretching and yoga and bendiness — positions I haven’t managed in a very long time. Made for an exceptional workout and a fantastic start to the day!
(I have no pictures of this.)
II Then attend a HAND’S OFF rally right here in town. Life in these United States, for the next few years, is going to involve a lot of rage against the regime. In the first 85 days of this corrupt and dangerous administration, that has meant marches, protests and rallies in Sacramento, Ann Arbor, San Luis Obispo, Folsom…. and today: Davis! It’s a sad (and scary) statement about the state of our country, for sure, but it also feels righteous to turn the anger into action. And it’s especially nice to be in solidarity with people from my own town, to listen to members of my own community share their stories, to stand on a corner waving signs just a few blocks from my own house, to get honks of support from people I know.
III Then go listen to some jazz music at my favorite cafe. TH at Cloud Forest Cafe has been organizing a series of live music concerts in the Spring and Fall for a number of years now. This was my first time going and it was just lovely.
IV Then go to Janet’s for dinner. Always nice when someone else does all the cooking! Plus, good company and a post dinner walk around the pond.
Will
April 14, 2025
Meet Will. Kalea and Justin’s little boy, who’s now 7 weeks old.
I got to hang out a bit with this little guy this morning.
When I arrived, Will was napping on Bill’s lap. Then he napped a bit while Sabrina changed his diaper. Then he napped for our entire walk — two laps around College Park. Then we got home, and he was still napping. I got to hold him for a couple minutes (or, more accurately, I snagged him from the stroller when Sabrina left the room). He didn’t really come to. But I had a great time!
More stories to come, I imagine.
Life of Wry 