Hoan's world

I've had this on my To Do List since I returned from Santa Barbara -
"link Hoan's blog to mine" and this morning, with only a little bit of
hi tech frustration, I accomplished the feat. Joan is a reknowned bird
expert and naturalist and she has published a couple of best selling
books which you can read about on her blog, over to the right (alpha
under Blog). Joan/Hoan and I went to the University of Colorado
together, as you might remember.

One of the things I like so much about blogging is the easy reference
it provides. Today I urge you to check out Great Plotnik as well
as Hoan's blog.  Oh, hell, check out The All of It too, she had a
scary plane ride to San Diego. You might avoid the Go Giants! link.

Eye much better, enjoy Pride Parade and ALL those crowds today!

now on the bookshelves!

SharedBook spit out the 2013 edition of No More Commas Period for
under $100 and Husbando is currently reading it and probably making
some mental corrections along the way. I do love seeing "the year in
print" and reliving all that we did (and didn't do) and making my own
mental notes to avoid some of my more tiresome topics in 2014. It's
good that I do this daily blogging, if only for the two of us here in
Casa Verde. It was a good year, all in all...

personal Paris essays

"We hated Paris and loved it all at once, and when we headed back to New
York on the last transatlantic crossing the following winter, we did so
reluctantly ~ and forever changed. I wore scarves ~ foulards, I called
them ~ around my neck in a way that must have seemed ridiculous to my
American friends..."  Penelope Rowlands in the Introduction to Paris
Was Ours.

I am loving this anthology by 32 writers who actually lived in Paris. At
the same time I'm gobbling up the blog by Claire who is in Paris, here
I'll link it for you. Go and read, you'll love her photos and posts.

This book includes: David Sedaris, Diane Johnson, Alice Kaplan, Joe
Queenan, C.K.Williams, Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni, Edmund White and more.
Almost all the women writers mention scarves...

On a personal note, I still have the foulard I bought in Paris more than 25
years ago. I mean, gees, what woman could be there without one? And it's
just as beautiful now as it was then.

shared frustration

MS,
I tried SEVENTEEN TIMES to post this message on your blog and I have now given up.
That word identification puzzle defeated both Jim and me this morning.

 Here it is:

I love the photo of the Mexican workers in their big sombreros.  Good timing;
tomorrow is Labor Day here.  It's a puente weekend, a bridge over several days
of holiday in celebration of the occasion.

This was my morning email from my friend Susan, who is also widely known as
The Fevered Brain. I so appreciate all comments to my blog and I too suffer
trying to figure out those pesky non-words that we are now forced to type before
we can comment. Most bloggers live for comments and learn from them, too.
Susan and her Mr. C. are busy packing up, leaving their home in Mexico so
they can return to Sacramento and I'm glad she took a moment to write. I did
send an email to Blogspot about this issue and so far no answer, no change.


You can read Susan's glorious and colorful blog under The All of It.
Many of you already follow her. See you soon, Fevered Brain, and 
travel with care, as always.

friends who blog

Samovar Tea Lounge atop the Yerba Buena Gardens

Have you met Bev?

Luscious scone with clotted creme and strawberry jam

It was great seeing Bev yesterday and honestly, she looks almost exactly
the same as she did more than 20 (30?) years ago when we met in a
group called Women Entrepreneurs. At that time she published the
Where-To-Guide which is now the name of her blog. Bev has a ton of
energy and travels all over, entertains and keeps up with everyone and
everything. We had tea (hers a white, mine a chai) and scones ~ it was
really delightful being with her. I hate to admit that I now need a
reason to go downtown and I can't think of a better one than to meet
a friend. OK, you can check out our dueling blogs...

the printed page

As promised, here is the photo I selected for the front cover of the
long awaited 2011 edition of this blog. It was taken while sight seeing
at Coit Tower in October. Blog2Print does a great job and now they
will print other blog sites such as Word Press, etc. I'm sorry that they
raised their prices, but that was inevitable, and it's still under $100
for the full-color wonder of it all.

I missed mentioning Blogmaid's birthday yesterday, but she had 4
million good wishes on Facebook and this one didn't end in 5 or
zero, as Plotnik might say. I think all people born on Jan. 1st are
charmed, and she is no exception.

it's a wrap

Well, that one zipped by. I was looking at old iPhotos of 2011 and
right off the top of my head I have to highlight friends, family, food
and the amazing fund-raising for Light the Night. Oh, and the views
and wonder of our less-than-perfect city.

Now I order the blog for the year and I will show you which photo I
selected for the cover tomorrow, in 2012. Happy New Year to all my
dear and devoted (ahem) readers.

when writers rant...

Last night we had our annual Tiapos holiday party and the theme
was Ranting, something we all did quite well. Cathartic. There were
11 of us and what was amusing is that we all are SF foodies yet
Eric brought KFC and we woofed (wolfed?) it down. There was
also (not in any particular order) barbequed chicken, deviled eggs,
salmon spread, pasta (just the middle part for god's sake), carrots,
potatoes, rice, coleslaw, persimmon pudding, almond torte, wine,
coffee and cookies. It was after midnight when I got home. Imagine.

We had a blast, laughter galore. I brought home every one's work
for Husbando and now I'll give you a sample. Alas I have to clean
it up in case any grandchildren read my blog. As if.

Karen was fluffing her aura down at the ocean and a geezer in a
pick-up truck parked next to her and turned up the right wing
radio station wherein a bunch of morons praise Karl Rove.

Chef P is hosting an elegant dinner party for 24 and being a
perfectionist she (ahem) bristled when someone wanted to bring
a teenage kid to throw off the count and that wasn't going to work.

Will gave us two fabulous poems and here are the opening lines:
I hate the living.
and
Freezing to death by a deserted country road
while coyotes circle hopefully: too harsh, really,
and apt to inspire pity in a kindhearted stranger
who might mourn his half-eaten corpse

Doug ~ a very sweet trip down memory lane with some insights
along the way. Fun to hear wife Barb's retorts between sentences.
Sometimes we remember the glow of the holidays and that can
lead to resentments as we grow and change. Or like that...

Jane issued a 5 page Rant-O-Rama. Here is the beautiful final
graph which Doug is going to cut and paste on his holiday cards:
Give thanks. Say prayers. Do good. Take care. Be giving. Keep
going even when you don't want to and your rhythm sucks and
your voice is murky, and your mind is too, and your spirit is not
soaring like a bird. Ramble and whine and wallow in your grief
and wine. Go nowhere, do nothing. Know that you are already
somewhere. Here. Let it be enough. Stop trying to be so tough.
Take the hand that has been offered. Let yourself be helped, let
your heart be cradled. Take the hand of the Universe. Hold on.
Have faith. Skip along. Make a wish. Take your time.

Susie read a post card and a letter from a would-be cousin in
(we hope) a mental institution. Very, very strange stuff and no
return address.

Eric wrote about the California delta smelt that our ex-gov Arnold
dismissed so cavalierly. Here's a sample:
I'm just a fishy little SMELT.
Go ahead forget me. You've got Shamu and Coco
and your cute little Ling-ling.

Me ~ all about my blog, this very blog. It all began because of my
Tiapos group back in 2005. I have logged 2,508 posts and people
actually read this crap and there are many benefits and joys to both
blogging and belonging to this less-than-sane group of writers.

Thank you all for another fabulous Tiapos party. Now I need to nap...

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

Yesterday I asked the most wonderful Linda ONE SIMPLE
QUESTION and she answered succinctly and quickly.
And here I am with a totally new blog because I had been
so afraid to update it that I had to spend a few hours with
the new templates (well, not new to everyone, ahem) and
lordy, has Blogspot made things easier, or what?

Anyway, what fun I had. How do you like it?

Check out the Leukemia Walk gadget thingy. Please join
us for the Light the Night Walk. Please. More about this
later. Have I told my readers lately that I appreciate you?
I do, oh indeedy I do!

yesterday, continued...

Here is Armistead Maupin on the steps of Barbary Lane,
we presume. I met him once and he said, "oh
you aren't MY Mary Ann."

The longer I think about this, the happier I am
that we saw it last Sunday night!

And now a blog thought, it's not easy for me just to sit and
write without a photo or two to help. When did that happen?
I even included a photo in one of my daily Round Robin
pieces last week. Life, she be weird, have you noticed?

there's nothing like the printed page

Finally blogspot.com offers a service for us to have our blogs printed
at a very reasonable price. So here is 2010 ~ all 234 pages including
photos for only $90.00. And it is very easy! I just clicked on a couple
of lines and it took about 10 days and here it is. You can find the
service under blog2print or SharedBook and I am a delighted first
time customer. Thanks to the Blogmaid for testing this for me with
her Claire's wonderful blog (Power Pony Tail). I think the photo
quality is outstanding. The writing? Well, it's there. Everyday.
Almost. We sure had a busy year.

Health update ~ Husbando's cough is better and he slept more
soundly last night. I didn't.

five new kids on the blog

I decided to tackle the GLP (Great Link Project) yesterday and
added some new blogs to the list on the right. Partly for you, the
readers, partly for the bloggers, but mostly as an easy access
for me. These are blogs I check everyday and I hope you give
them a look-see. Of course I urge you to leave comments for
the writers, we live for comments. By alpha:

1. The All of It ~ my friend Susan who lives in Mexico for half the year, Sacramento for the other half.
   
2. Failing at Living ~ Ms. Gonick was one of my favorite columnists in the chronny.
3. Power in a Pony Tail ~ RR's half sister and the blogmaid's step dot.
4. SF Civic Center ~ a completely different look at our city by SF Mike. He has me hooked.
5. Writing to Survive ~ one of my Round Robin partners last session.

Of course I should be linking the above for you, but I had just
about enough of that high tech stuff yesterday.