of dosas and butterflies

Here we have RR and L and two fluttery friends ~ we all met at the
Conservatory of Flowers out in Golden Gate Park. It was great to see
the Morbidmama again and always nice to be with the Blogmaid.
The Blogmaid took these two featured photos (and 75 others) and
would like me to use them all, but I told her that my readers have
short attention spans.
This is the famous photo op in front of the Conservatory. We went
walking through the tunnel and then on Dinosaur Lane. The girls ran
and skipped and we three women meandered and chatted quietly.
A pleasant afternoon ~ how lucky we are to have this park.
Earlier Husbando and I had a fabulous lunch at the new Udupi Palace at
1007 Valencia (22nd). Check out this mammoth paper dosa which we
dipped in assorted sauces. We ordered too much food because we
didn't know, but still it only came to $22. The vegetable curry was also
quite wonderful, just spicy enough for my gentle taste buds.

This is South Indian cooking and you need to go with a big appetite
and a willingness to try new flavors. It's vegetarian, but I mean that
in a good way.

life, she be funny sometimes

My dear friend Ginger is returning to California and will look for
a new home up in the Sacramento area ~ this is my official
blogger welcome to her. We have known each other for more than
30 years and at the beginning of our friendship, I thought I would
be the one to move around and experience life in various places.
Instead I have lived in the same small home in Bernal Heights
and she has lived in Boston, Charlotte (North Carolina) and
Manhattan, Kansas. (Maybe I've forgotten one or two stops
along the way.) I've always loved visiting her in these different
places because we go exploring and have some adventures, but
she really belongs in California and her cheerful "honey, I'm
home" telephone call last night was most welcome. California
does get into your blood, or so I've been told.

long time no bag in hallway

Next week Carpinteria for Ms. Commano. The usual and maybe
unusual feelings for me of apprehension and excitement because I'll
be going alone and staying in this coast side town down there by
Santa Barbara. Finally it's The Great Italian Reunion and I'll see
French Bulldog Ginger, Boise, Joey, Adriana and her two sweet
daughters who live in Florence. I'll get to know myself a little bit
better and do some thinking and writing (and don't the two go
hand-in-hand?) with lots of walking, reading and staring along the
way. My friend Michael (tech expert who fixes this blog on an all
too regular basis) lives down there in Goleta and we'll drink too
much coffee and complain about the local not-great food. Plus I
hope to see my old college friend Hoan (Joan, we were so clever
with names back then) for some more walks. She's the famous
bird expert/writer that I've mentioned before. By the way, you
need to know that Ginger's nickname is Chickenhead ~ it's another
ancient story also from our College Daze. Boulder, Colorado,
if you must know. And you must...

I'm taking Ken and will stop next Wednesday night in King City.
It's tradition (and a bad one).

surprise! I liked it...

I'm not big on baby movies and I didn't expect to like Juno, but
after about 1/2 hour I really started to enjoy this. There were
some unexpected twists/turns and Juno's parents are so unusual
that they make the movie just by being on screen. I thought
Jennifer Garner was quite wonderful too. I had a Kleenex® handy,
but didn't really need it. Yes, go ahead, rent it...

long time no table

We haven't entertained for eons because I become such a nit picky
perfectionist ~ but last night we celebrated our friend Neti's b.day
with her daughter and partner and Mr./Ms. Blogmaid. Of course
once the guests arrived (with the usual parking discussions) I
relaxed and had a fine time. The inside of the house is presentable,
the outside still under the black veil of now-how-much-longer?

Note to self: when one has a rather new red toned dining room
carpet, one might want to rethink coconut cake as a dessert item.

an impressive candidate

Sorry, I don't know how to remove this red line, so don't feel
you have to buy this shirt in order to read this blog. Actually,
it lacks imagination ~ both the shirt and this post. Isn't it nice
to have such an elegant representative for America again? I
love seeing Obama step off the planes and shake hands with
world leaders and face enthusiastic crowds. Such a change
from Bush and the "my lord, did he say that? Groan..."

So why is he slipping in the polls? Is it because I haven't put
the Obama bumper strip on Ken yet? He is not perfect, but
we need Obama to win in November. Let's have a few years
without GOP rule, please. OK, enough politics. Off to work
for some small-scale politics and all those tourists with their
maps and phrase books who hold a handful of coins in the
palm of their hand, just like we do when we travel abroad.

we find more pho

There are three important things that we do on our trips out to
Clement Street:
1) Goodwill shopping
2) Selling books at Green Apple ($27 cash yesterday!)
3) Food ~ this should be #1, actually

I've written several times about pho, that Vietnamese soup with
thinly sliced rare roast beef that is cooked by the time it gets to the
table. Here is a new (for us) place at either 3rd or 4th Avenue on
busy Clement. $6 for the "small" bowl, too much for me. Then we
always have the Vietnamese iced coffee that takes 3 days to drip
and is better, and sweeter, than any dessert.

elitist blogger goes to the mall!

Yesterday I went to Tanforan Shopping Center in San Bruno. It
was quite an adventure as I don't do malls and I don't spend money
on big screen movies (small popcorn, small Coke® for $8.25!), but
this was a special day with the Blogmaid and RR. We all enjoyed
Kit Kittredge with Stanley Tucci and Joan Cusack and this blonde
child who actually wasn't annoyingly sweet. Oh, also Wally Shawn
was the editor of the Cincinnati Register, seen above. This American
Girl movie takes place in 1934, and revolves around those difficult
days of economic hardship: businesses going under, banks closing,
homes in foreclosure, people losing their jobs. Yes, I did have to
pull a Kleenex® out of my purse for one of two sniffles...

from behind the veil

I took this photo yesterday ~ today there is sunshine and blue skies,
but it's not obvious from what we used to call the View Window. The
prep work on our tiny house will take longer than we imagined, longer
even than people warned us about. Our perfectionist painter has found
some wood damage and is repairing that along the way. I should say he
has found a lot of wood damage. Last night Husbando and I pow-wowed
and decided another month of trying to be civil to one another and we
know the results will be worth it. Please remind me of this from time to
time, dear readers...it will be worth it, yes indeedy.

turn right on divisadero

I so loved The English Patient (book, more than the movie, of
course) that I decided to buy Michael Ondaatje's newest,
entitled Divisadero. He takes us from San Francisco to southern
France with a stop in the casinos of Nevada.

It is very foggy here and the back of the house has a somber
black veil because the 3 year long process of pre-painting prep
work has begun in almost-earnest. I am trying to raise above
the inconvenience of it all and most days I am failing.

Will (from Tiapos) said that when a friend gave him the name
of a contractor he also gave him the business card for a marriage
counselor. That makes perfect sense to me at this stage of upheaval.

back to the seventies

We both loved The Bank Job about a group of small time crooks who
tunnel underground and rob Lloyd's Bank in London. This is based on
fact, with enough British humor and close escapes to keep you glued
to the screen. There is some violence that forced me out of the room,
but I hovered near the door and didn't really miss much. Commano
says, "rent it!", so there. (I realize it's not easy to stay glued to the
screen and also dash out to avoid bloodshed, but I managed it and so
can you.) No Kleenex® needed, alas.

even the orchestra is...

beautiful. This production is amazing ~ a very small stage, but
so much energy and emotion. We had only seen Cabaret as a
movie (and MANY years ago), so I didn't know what to expect.
Well, it was glorious and the best news is that it will be playing
until September, so you will have plenty of time to contact
the SF Playhouse for reservations. I like the email from Bill
English, the director ~ "remember, this is a play first, a musical
second". Special applause to Brian Yates Sharber, emcee of
the now famous Kit Kat Klub in Berlin (1931).

congrats to kay ryan!

Our new Poet Laureate and resident of Marin County. I've published
a poem of hers here, about two years ago. I'm sure that influenced
the selection committee. Here is another, from Elephant Rocks.

Living with Stripes

In tigers, zebras,
and other striped creatures,
any casual posture
plays one beautiful set of lines
against another:
herringbones and arrows
appear and disappear;
chevrons widen and narrow.
Miniature themes and counter points
occur in the flexing and extending
of the smaller joints.
How can they stand to drink,
when lapping further complicates
the way the water duplicates their lines?
Knowing how their heads will zigzag out,
I wonder if they dread to start sometimes.

Kay Ryan

people pumping gas

Thanks to the Blogmaid for sending this photo when she discovered
that I get tired of the every nightem's TV news with gas pumpers. I
mean, we GET THE POINT, OK? Her eldest daughter, Claire, took
this picture and I'm sure we'll both be sued.

miles of san leandro

Here, I know you've been waiting and waiting. I somehow fixed the
blog and I can now post photos again. (I really should be working down
in Silicon Valley.) Miles belongs to my friend Meriel, isn't he a love?

lunch with miles

After I stretched and chanted yesterday, I took the
BART from our cool and foggy city out to San Leandro
to have lunch with two old friends ~ Mary and Meriel.
Of course shaggy Miles took center stage. It was nice
and sunny out there, no surprise, we city dwellers are
used to this phenomenon. The weather reporters always
say, "hot inland, cool marine layer in San Francisco
and along the coast". Day after day...it's the reason
most of us have two (max) summer outfits and one pair
of sandals. I had a delightful time catching up with
my women friends and munching on salad and chocolate
cake. And a chance to wear sandals!

I read in today's chronny that SF is the "most walkable"
city, followed closely by NY and Boston. Even more so
now with gas so expensive. (If I see one more person
pumping gas on TV I will scream.) But first, I think
I had better take a long walk up a steep hill...

author correction

A writer should certainly write about dreams and animal death
and any combination thereof ~ so healing and helpful. Just don't
inflict it/them on the innocent reader. There, I can go to yoga
now with a free mind. Ommmmm shanti.

provide a living wage

I almost forgot the two basic don't-you-dare-write-about
rules from my first writing course with the Salon Mistress:
1) dreams (only interesting to the actual dreamer, even
though I try to look alert when Husbando tells me his)
2) the death of a pet ~ avoid at all costs

But, just to finish up ~ Uncle Ju did not suffer, I found him
dead behind the sofa. This blogger, however, did suffer.

I'm reading Obamanomics by John R. Talbott, trying to be
enthusiastic about the next (I hope) president. And this
helps! The subtitle is How Bottom-up Economic Prosperity
Will Replace Trickle-down Economics. We have one really
wealthy friend and he is terrified of Obama and "socialism".
I say that he has been coddled too long.

missing uncle junior

Last night the Blogmaid emailed me this photo of our very special
orange boy. We had him for 3 years ~ lordy, how I miss him. Below is
a daily write from 2002. I have another piece from the day he died.
Maybe tomorrow I'll treat you to that.

He was already 10 years old when we got him from the vet more
than two years ago. He had been staying in a cage and he was
very fat and very afraid. No one wanted him, so the former owner
offered $5,000 to whoever would take him. It was purely mercenary
on our part. There was no instant feeling of attraction, our eyes did
not lock and he hissed at me every time he saw me, from his cage.
I really didn’t like him much, but who can resist all that money?
Pork Chop had died several weeks before and Tosca howled every
night. Never mind that she never liked Ms. Chop, she just didn’t want
to be alone. Alas, I have known people like that. So I dragged Ginger
home. He weighed about 16 pounds and he peed on the vet's assistant
and in his carry cage. We renamed him Uncle Junior because our
dear friend is named Ginger and Husbando loves that character on
The Sopranos. Husbando hates all cats, but seemed to warm to Ju.
Maybe because he hid away for about 3 weeks. He would only come
out of the lower bookcases for chicken livers if we were not in the
room. At night I closed the door in the back room so he could use
the litter box and eat. I left him toys and he would play with them
and use the scratch box. Gradually he emerged for longer periods
of time and now he is a real lap cat and likes to cuddle with Tosca.
Well, of all things, this big old cat is an absolute clown and keeps
us amused with his antics. He is very messy and the place mats
under the cat plates are always covered with food. He eats any
plant or flower that he can find and he knocks things over when
he walks on the mantle. He is the complete opposite of a fastidious
cat. We had to buy covered cat boxes because he sprayed the walls.
The $5,000 never materialized, but we do get free vet care for the
Uncle. And my love for him grew and he lost weight and Ju Boy
figured out that if he amused me, he could stay here forever.

not funny, woody

I know, a few too many boring non-reviews of films lately, but
this blog also serves as a diary (of sorts) for Husbando and
myself, so bear with me. Cassandra's Dream is the name of a
little sail boat owned by two brothers who live in London. I
expected some humor since this is a Woody Allen movie, but
it is a tragedy with lots of important themes like guilt and
redemption, etc. Heavy. I think I'm glad we watched this
because Tom Wilkinson is in every movie, and also this is
the second Colin Farrell movie this week. But I don't really
give this my coveted "rent this now!" recommendation.