binge away with us

That's Jeff Daniels pictured, but the women are really the stars in Godless.
It's violent and rough, but that's the Wild West for you. Some beautiful
photography, especially of horses. From the Flix®.

Then last night we watched two episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
on Amazon Prime. The 50's in NYC ~ great fun. It's a comedy and I
feel free recommending this to everyone. Enjoy.

all a-jumble

Nap time for twelve puppies at the SPCA. One mother doing double duty
for her six and then the other six pups whose mom could not be found.
Soon the pups will be eating and mom can rest and go to the spa. She
deserves it. It is amazing to watch them sleep like this. Each one already
has a name because the vets need to check them out and administer meds
if needed.

yup, it's here

Fresh Dungeness crab ~ hooray. This is the first year in ages that there
hasn't been some reason to delay the bounty. The crab fishers will strike
or there is a suspected ailment or buyers and sellers can't decide on a
price. But this year it is on time, not expensive (this whole beauty for
$9.95 cleaned and cooked) and simply luscious. Reason enough to live
in the Bay Area as far as we are concerned. Don't forget the fresh
sour dough bread and say "Yummmmm!" every three minutes.

rainy day movie

Ah, the gentle rain outside, the fireplace inside and two people charmed
by "The Big Sick" from Amazon Prime. This is a love story and so
much more ~ don't miss it!

down at the Jewel

So nice to see the Blogmaid yesterday and we walked around the Canal
after lattes at the Bux. We were both enamored of these sweaters at
the Giants gift shop and you can see why. Does Santa read my blog?

and more birthday!

Yesterday in Tiburon with Marsha and her two dogs. Delicious Sicilian
seafood at the Luna Blu. It's a tiny treasure of a restaurant and perfect
in every way. Yes, I will be back.

happy and thankful

RR's 14th birthday!

Our lovely dinner

It was a special day ~ Ceci cooked the Cornish, cauliflower, mashers and
Husbando and I did the dishes and napped after she left. Then we started
on "Godless" on the Flix® and that gets our seal of approval, so far.
(A cooking note here with a nod to Chef Sarah ~ we soaked the mini
turkeys in buttermilk the night before, then a dollop of duck fat so
they browned beautifully and seemed extra tender.)

thankful again

Grand daughter/ chef/ farmer Ceci arrived yesterday and after a walk n'
talk she went right to work in our kitchen. She is so easy to be with
and we are lucky to have her here for our Low Key Thanksgiving.

bring a little color

Here's a newly painted old house in our nabe. This one is on Bryant Street near
25th St. Avoiding the tyranny of beige once again. I can't say I love it, but
that really doesn't matter.

shop at Macy's

I had lunch with Frances yesterday and she was in a happy state of mind
because of the new addition to their home. Meet Tayto, named after an
Irish potato chip. The windows at Macy's are full of dogs and cats and
soon I will go down to see for myself and pester passerby people for donations.
Tayto is a brand new kitten, weighing only two pounds. Sweet.

Mercy, just for girls

Mercy

RR (right) and her mother the Blogmaid

I felt so special being invited to the Open House at Mercy High School in
Burlingame yesterday. It is an all girls school and RR will probably be
going there for four years beginning next year. I had a wonderful time
going into classrooms, gym, library, chapel and meeting lots of students
and teachers. And yes, RR is taller than her mama and will soon be
taller than me.

strong female lawyer

We are watching FEARLESS on Amazon Prime. It's British, it's quite
wonderful and don't we all need to escape? One can sink one's teeth
into this series, trust me here. Emma is the hero in every sense of the word.

hooray ~ a new mystery!

IQ ~ the initials of a young black man in L.A. who is brilliant and who
solves crimes that don't really interest the police because of their
"who-cares-about-the-ghetto?" philosophy. This is fresh and fun and a
wonderful escape from the perils of the holidaze.

a wonderful week indeed

Because I use this blog as a reference tool, I will share my b.day happiness
here ~ thank you, dear friends. Today to the gym and normal food:

• Sunday ~ Zuni brunch with Pamela and Joe (and walk to Stuff)
• Monday ~ lunch with Steve Olian at Noeteca
• Tuesday ~ Farina on Valencia for luscious lunch with Doug and Barb
• Wednesday ~ dinner with Husbando at Chez Marius (escargot!)
• Thursday ~ lunch with Ginger at Kokkari

Lucky me.

poetry break

A Glass of Water

I pour a glass of water for myself.
I watch what greys it gathers from the room.
It's not to drink. I want the wanting of
a glass and water sleep can come between.
The glass of water sits there half the year.
Its level drops. Its bubbles bloom and burst.
I get the glass of water's hardly you,
and still I rise to mouthing arid toasts:
to hunger, thirst; to bliss that goes without;
to love abstained, the lull until the flood;
to near enough to touch it hurts, and not;
all windblown wishes, thistles in a field.
I tilt the glass of water to my lips.
I hold like this, before the wanting stops.

CONOR O'CALLAGHAN

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busy week with time for...

After our Sunday lunch we walked from Zuni to Valencia Street to
checkout the strange and wonderful Stuff store. Two floors of used
items, all for sale. It's a treasure trove and always a lot of fun. (On
Friday I will recap this Foodie Festival birthday week and other stuff.)

the new canine (K-9)

This is the new security guard at the SPCA. I believe it is a giant
camera, but I'm not sure. Yesterday a man walking by thought that I
was controlling K-9 with my iPhone. It's huge and heavy, but I
still think it might end up in the back of a pick-up truck. It probably
goes inside at night, freaking out the dogs and cats as he rolls by.

every religion...

...has its conservatives. Not to judge, but they are always the worst ~ even
our own Christian evangelicals. When we were in NYC I was fascinated
by the Hasidic Jews ~ long black coats on the hottest days. Women always
with strollers filled with babies. One of Us is a Flix® documentary about
several Jews who are trying to leave the Community. There are way more
Hasidics than I knew and they stay strong by subjugating women and
educating their young to avoid people on the outside and never, ever
use the internet. This movie left many questions, but answered a few.
Yes, recommended.

sliders and fries

Husbando devours restaurant reviews and recently read that we needed
to try the sliders at Original Joe's in Westlake. Off we went yesterday
to sit at the counter and eat too much. Yes, delicious, and of course one of
the benefits of this restaurant is that there is free parking. We also split
a huge chopped Italian salad, yum.

November 11, 2017

an East Bay day

East Coast?

Crushed tea leaf salad

Dry fried chicken

How different various parts of the Bay Area are. Yesterday I met Bev over
in Rockridge (Oakland) and I arrived early to walk around for awhile. This
is a vibrant neighborhood and I enjoyed the College Avenue experience
so much. We had a delicious lunch at a Osmanthus (Chinese for some plant
or other) and we did a fine catch-up on each others' lives. So handy for
me with BART and easy parking for Beverly who drove from Walnut Creek.
Thanks to Bev for finding this spot!

finally ~ a bit of hope

Some very positive news after Tuesday night ~ elections in Virginia and
New Jersey and a few other places. Women and people of color taking
office while crowds came out to vote. Now if Trump can keep his fat
little fingers off the nuclear code we might all get out of this alive.

d-o-w-n-t-o-w-n

When I was a girl growing up in staid, pretty Pasadena, my happiest
memories are when I would get on a bus and go in to L.A. I knew
then, but didn't articulate it, that I was a City Person. Cities make me
happy ~ I know other (probably normal) people who find calm and
inspiration at the ocean or walking in the woods, but for some reason
my center lies in the city. I have a couple of excuses for errands this
afternoon and then I will go to my Peet's and sit with my latte and a
sweet and watch the world walk by. The experience is even better now
that I have the handy iPhone so I can record some special moments.

unbalanced

Yesterday was our final American History class and Professor Rothmann
spent the whole time discussing Trump and how treacherous he is. He can
be removed from office but it will not be easy. Impeachment is a political
act, not a legal one. It is his belief that Mueller will go after and get
Trump's income tax returns and those will tell us so much. Trump's
rhetoric should concern everyone because it is very dangerous. During
the Q&A only one person in a class of 200 seemed to disagree and he
mentioned how great the stock market is doing. Oh, please...

thoughts and prayers

We just keep sending our prayers to the victims and their families. SO
much easier than enacting meaningful gun restrictions. Somewhere
someone is planning another massacre right now and buying up all
sorts of Ruger AR-556 rifles so he can massacre a whole bunch of innocent
people and that's probably because he believes in the 2nd Amendment.
Call me discouraged, call me pissed off and sick of the bloodshed.
But let the NRA (a terrorist organization) do their dirty work in
the name of freedom.

set aside some time to binge

Back to Hawkins, Indiana in the 80's. The kids have grown since Season
One of Stranger Things and there is a wonderful new character to study.
We watched two episodes yesterday and I can honestly say that I think
it might even be better than last year. Pray for rain so we can do some
daytime TV watching here! On the Flix®, as well you know...

back to Garfield Park

I took my three departed friends to hang their photos on the Day of the
Dead clotheslines ~ they (Michael, Jane and Irving) would love being
there, that much I know for sure. Sometimes I think other cultures
"do" death better than we do. I left them some marigolds and thanked
them for adding so much to my life, each one changed me for the
better. Marsha and I decided that the homemade altars are better than
some of the artistically beautiful ones we have seen in museums.

altars, candles, marigolds

Now this is the way to mourn! I finally made it to the Day of the Dead event
which is only a few blocks from our home. Marsha picked me up at 5pm and
we easily found GREAT parking on 24th Street. Walked down to Garfield
Park and enjoyed all the altars, then had a bite to eat and walked up to 22nd
and Bryant for the procession and by 7:30pm the streets were packed and
it was all so colorful and delightful. I will show you more tomorrow...

good one!

I finished and gave five stars to The Reluctant Fundamentalist and just
started this Little Fires Everywhere novel. It's my favorite setting - one
of those "perfect" American suburbs, this one in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Beautiful writing, don't bother me for a few days, please.

it's a wrap

I attended the final Universe class yesterday. Try to accept these facts:

• the universe is 13.8 billion years old (after the Big Bang)
• our solar system is 4.6 billion years old
• human civilization is 11 thousand years old

We are the youngest civilization in the universe and who out there

would want to communicate with babies? But Professor Fraknoi

seems to think that there might be other life out there and he

recommends the movie Contact with Jodie Foster. Will do and

well done Fromm.