A Week in Bucolic Walnut Creek

Jack and Debbie invited us into their really lovely and comfortable home in Walnut Creek. We got to see grandson Aiden before they all took off to join daughter Emily and her husband for a week on the outer islands of North Carolina. We spent the next three days hanging around Walnut Creek, the first day swimming in the complex's pool, the next day going to the great farmer's market to purchase tamales to take home (the best tamales anywhere) and buy some Bolani and toppings, then headed up to Mount Diablo to view the area from the top and hike around its trails. The day was relatively warm but not hot and the views were spectacular. The final day we headed to Livermore to taste wine and then ate dinner in Walnut Creek at a great little Italian restaurant.

THANK YOU JACK AND DEBBIE for your hospitality and generosity. We had a wonderful time.

Tourists in San Francisco

I love San Francisco. The day after the Parade, we boarded BART and headed back to do the touristy thing of riding the cable car to the Waterfront to visit the old, big boats. We ate lunch at Scomas and then shopped at the waterfront market, which is (to a foodie) pure heaven.

Tall Ships Parade in Spectacular San Francisco Bay

Brother, Jack Byrnes, invited us to sail with him on Brigadoon in the Tall Boats Parade in San Francisco a few weeks ago. Brigadoon is a beautiful square-masted wood boat with a long history dating to the 30s. She has been lovingly owned and cared for by her owner and skipper, Terry for some 30 years and Jack has sailed on her for most of those years. Jack -- if I have any information wrong or you would like to add to this, please blog us.

It was a fantastic day on the Bay, with sunshine and plenty of wind, we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge and prepared for our place in "line." Seeing the Golden Gate and San Francisco from this position was nothing short of spectacular and as we sailed around the Bay in something like perfect 25 knot or so winds, I kept thinking -- "there's no where else I'd rather be right here, right now."

Afterwards, we visited the venerable St. Francis Yacht Club that sits regally at the foot of the Marina. Jack is a long-time member and Terry is a former commodore. End to a perfect day.

Pictures from our day on the Bay below. For the record, the guy in hoisted in the bosun's chair is Jack, the only volunteer willing to go up the mast. Tom got to sail across the Bay with, of course, rails in the water. I just enjoyed the fantastic view all away around. San Francisco just feels like home. I love the city, I love the Bay, I love the golden hills.

Thank you Jack (and Terry too), we had a wonderful time.

Forgot the Camera But Had A Great Weekend with the Grandkids

On Friday, Tom and I took Sylvia and Andy to Magnolia for fun on the playground, dinner outside at Rudy's, then two hours of swimming at the Magnolia pool. The weather was beautiful and the kids stayed in the pool the whole time. We all had so much fun. Magnolia is great because the kiddie pool is large, warm and they have loads of pool toys for everyone. Sylvia grasped a little octopus and fish and was perfectly happy. Andy spent almost his entire time sliding down the big water slide, first with grandpa then all by himself.

That night both kids went to sleep quickly and soundly. The next morning (we babysat overnight while their parents were camping) both kids greeted us with cheery faces.

On Saturday we headed out early to Remlinger Farm. My mission was to get raspberries for making jam with Andy. But more than that we wanted to get to the play area before lots of people arrived. We did every ride in twos -- pony rides, cars -- Andy drove grandpa, me and his sister around the track a couple of times, the canoes, the roller coaster (with grandpa, not me), the pumpkins (with me, not grandpa), then we ate lunch and headed home where we listened to Silly Songs and they promptly went to sleep. We got home just as their parents arrived.

We really enjoyed having the kids to ourselves for two days and hope their parents do this again soon.

Unfortunately, we kept leaving the camera in the car so we have NO DOCUMENTATION of kids happy faces.

Sid is 70!

Our cousin's husband, Sid, just turned 70 years old. Last night we celebrated this significant benchmark. He can celebrate 70 because for Sid it really is only a number, as he is a person who continues to grow as a person and an artist. Sid is a bronze sculptor, an oil painter, and now, with blow torch in hand, he has created the most beautiful iron railing for his home. As a person who is attempting to be creative (silver metal smithing) in a new medium, I appreciate the learning curve.

Anyway, I just wanted to say -- good show Sid! Can't wait to see what else you achieve in the years to come.

Book Club

In January of 2002, I started a book and wine tasting club. The premise -- to read interesting books, to taste interesting wines, and engage in lively discussion about the books while drinking the wine with a group of diverse, intelligent women. I asked five of my friends who came from different parts of my own life to bring one of their friends to the first get together. We have now been meeting monthly, reading approximately 12 books a year, with no signs of abating. Two of our members have moved to France (one fell in love with a Parisian sculptor and has moved to Paris), the other has purchased a 15-acre farm somewhere in the countryside. Several others have dropped out (it's a big commitment) and others have replaced them, so the discussions have remained interesting and the book selections diverse.

The way it works is that everyone has a turn to choose a book and a venue (generally a restaurant or someone's home -- because one of our members scouts restaurants for the Book and Cook series, we eat at some great restaurants). My last book club book was A Man Without A Country, Kurt Vonnegut's last book. To prepare, I read House of Bush, House of Saud, which Vonnegut suggests people read and several others he mentions in the book. The book is terse and thought provoking.

My next selection will be The Lazarus Project, by Aleksandar Hemon. Peter (Gaffney) was introduced to Hemon by his friends and had dinner with him in New York after a book reading. Peter left this book behind and I read it. Pete has read two other books by him since and is really impressed by his writing. As Peter is publishing his first book soon (?) and is heading for Prague in a few weeks to co-write another book (with an economics professor who teaches in Turkey), I trust his opinion and recommend the author to anyone reading this blog.

Apparently Hemon was in Seattle recently for a book reading at Elliot Bay Books as I was able to pick up an autographed copy, which I sent to Peter to replace the now tattered book he left behind. (I'm hard on books.)

I read a lot these days. Often in search of my next book club recommendation. Right now I am reading Lush Life by Richard Price. It got great reviews and after that, Bad Money -- Reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism, by Kevin Phillips.

If you are interested in learning more about our own mortgage meltdown, Ira Glass's This American Life devotes an hour to the subject. You can download the program from the NPR website -- The Giant Pool of Money -- 5/11/08.

For some light reading -- really fluffy stuff -- read The Ungarnished Truth, by Ellie Matthews on how this Seattle native won $1 million in the Pillsbury Bake-Off with an embarrassingly simple recipe. I bought all the ingredients to make it myself. I'm thinking it would be fun to do this myself.

Road Trip East

We decided to hop in the car and drive to the northeastern part of the state on a car camping road trip. Both of us have been curious about the Okanogan and Colville areas and in seeing Nelson,B.C. and nearby hot ski area, Red Mountain. So off we went, heading over the North Cascade Highway and staying our first night in positive solitude just above Mazama. We took little roads to obscure fishing lakes. Did a lot of swimming in the over 100-degree weather. In Omak, our car thermostat read 108-degrees, but a town temperature reading was 111-degrees. It was so hot that my flip-flops stuck to the pavement having instantly softened the sole's surface. We experienced some beautiful country. We stopped a lot on the way to take in views, drive through little towns, have a picnic, swim or fish.

We traveled all the way to Nelson, B.C. for their Canada Day celebration and fireworks before heading east again to Osoyoos and then through the border to home.

Osoyoos was the one place we didn't camp, choosing to stay in a great little hotel right on the beach. That night, while we prepared dinner, a huge storm suddenly hit the lake, drenching the beach, causing instant flooding, hail that pelted the nearby orchards, and thunder and lightening that torched trees. We were sooooo happy to be in a room rather than camped as the winds would have easily blown the rain into our tent or completely over.

Favorite places: Curlew Lake above Republic, WA where Tom caught a beautiful Kamploops trout and Lake Christine, northeast of Grand Forks, B.C., "the warmest tree-lined lake in B.C.

I've included random photos from our journey.